100  Mineral Processing Technology (MPT 2007)
Mineral Processing Technologies in the
Bauxite & Alumina Industry
S. Buntenbach*, F. Donhauser*, G. Basu** and S. Chatterjee**
*AKW Apparate+Verfahren GmbH     **Humboldt Wedag India
1. INTRODUCTION
The story of the metal Aluminium is definitely a
story of a long term and sustainable success. The
production rates have steadily increased since
decades and nearly doubled in the last 25 years. The
production of primary aluminium is divided into:
• Bauxite mining,
• Production of Alumina and
• Production of Aluminium.
To be used economically, Bauxite should
contain at least 45–50% aluminium oxide. Mined
bauxite is processed to alumina in two steps. In a
first step crushed bauxite is digested by caustic
soda and thermal energy, getting after several
mechanical and chemical processes aluminium
hydro-oxide. This is calcinated to aluminium
oxide. To produce primary aluminium, the
aluminium and oxygen in alumina must be
separated by electricity in the reduction process.
In the following applications of Mineral
Processing Technologies in the process chain of
Aluminium production are discussed.
2. BAUXITE
Bauxite is by far the most important raw material
for the production of alumina. Its abundance,
distribution as well as mineralogical and chemical
composition greatly influences the mass flow
involved with alumina production. The quality of
the bauxite ore is highly variable between
individual deposits. For the last 15 years eight
major bauxite districts accounted for nearly 80%
of the world bauxite production. The quality of
bauxite occurring in these regions is controlled by
specific geologic factors. Thus, the amount of
alumina and waste produced during the
processing of bauxite from a distinct district is
mostly a given fact but can be optimized by
technical processes. Analyses of long and mid
term development graphs indicate a highly
dynamic behaviour of the average global ore
quality (Fig. 1).
While on a long term basis the ore quality
rises, a reverse trend has to be noticed for a mid
term period. The trend shown for the alumina
content of bauxite in Figure 1 can also be
observed for other quality indicators. These trends
are mainly a result of the limited amount of high
quality bauxite that is available at the same point
in time.As a con-sequence, the average ore
quality of reserves undergoes a continuous
decrease. This trend is most likely to continue in
the future. Some important mineralogical
characteristics of bauxite ores, which control the
efficacy of alumina processing are given below:
• Recoverable Al2O3
• Reactive silica and (R.SiO2) and TiO2-
content
• Bauxite/Al2O3-ratio and Red mud/Al2O3-
ratio
• moisture content.
These characteristics influences among
others the amount of bauxite needed to produce
one ton of alumina and the amount of energy and
chemicals during the process. The requirement for
high quality bauxite has a sensitive effect, both on
the amount and the regional distribution of
available reserves. Different investigations of
AKW A + V in close cooperation with bauxite
mine operations in South America and Africa
have shown, that it is possible to upgrade the
quality of the Run of Mine (RoM) Bauxite by
proven Mineral Processing Technologies. These
relatively low cost treatment methods can
101  Mineral Processing Technology (MPT 2007)
improve the technical as well as the economical
conditions of the Bayer process.

•
Fig. 1: Long and mid term development of the global average bauxite quality (Alumina content)

Fig. 2: Exploitation Profile of Los Pijiguaos Mine

2.1 Examples of Processes Designed by
AKW A + V
Two processes are presented which have different
process targets. One was developed to reduce the
quartz content of a High Quartz Bauxite and the
other was developed to reduce the amount of
reactive silica.
Reduction of the Content of Silica: The Los
Pijiguaos bauxite deposit is in the western part of
the State of Bolivar in Venezuela. It is the only
currently exploited bauxite deposit in Venezuela.
Mineral Processing Technologies in the Bauxite & Alumina Industry
Almost all of the associated bauxite deposits are
characterized by high-quality ore with total
alumina (Al2O3) contents of around 50 wt.%.
Proven reserves were found to amount to 168 Mt
of bauxite, containing on average 49 wt.% Al2O3
and 10.2 wt.% SiO2. The economic cut-off grade
is about 44 wt.% alumina (Al2O3) at a total silica
(SiO2) content of less than 20 wt.%.
Presently the bottom layer is not extracted,
due to its very high quartz content.
In the year 2003 a representative bauxite
sample of the High Quartz Bauxite was taken by
the geotechnical department of CVG-Bauxilum-
Operadore de Bauxita with the assistance of
Alcan. 4 big-bags each of approximately 750 kg
of HQ Bauxite have been sampled in chosen
locations of LP mine and send to AKW A+V-
Technical Center. This sample was divided in
representative subsamples according to
international standards.
HQ Bauxite from Los Pijiguaos is
characterized by an accumulation of quartz in the
range of 0.2 to 2.0 mm. For these reasons, the
particle sizes cited above are to be removed for
beneficiation purposes (elimination of quartz of
raw bauxite).
It should also be highlighted that the Ctotal
content in this bauxite (approx 0.07%) is low,
compared to standard grade bauxite, which is
102
presently fed to the plant (Ctotal = approx. 0.20–
0.22%).
Figure 3 shows a simplified flowsheet of the
developed process.
During the test work, it was found that the
‘‘intensity of attrition’’ introduced during
pretreatment process in the Washing Drum will
have a very significant effect, both with respect to
the quality of beneficiation as well as to the grade
of recovery of Al2O3. The obtained results of the
testwork are shown in table 1.
For the future operation of the plant 2 cases
are to be envisaged:
Recovery of Coarse Fraction + 2 mm: If only the
fraction >2 mm is to be recovered, then the
‘‘intensity of attrition’’ undergone by the raw
bauxite in the Washing Drum has to be tuned
carefully. When this intensity increases, the
quality of beneficiation increases but the total
mass of Al2O3 (or bauxite) recovered decreases.
Recovery of Coarse and Fine Fraction: If both
valuable fractions >2 mm and <100 µm will be
recovered, the pre-treatment in the Washing Drum
has a beneficial effect both on the quality of
beneficiation as well as on the recovery of Al2O3
(or bauxite). In addition, if ‘‘intensity of attrition’’
increases, it has been found that the quality of
beneficiation is improved, for identical recoveries.
But it has to be considered, that the dewatering of
the fine fraction <100 µm is a process with high
investment cost.
103  Mineral Processing Technology (MPT 2007)
Fig. 3: Simplified Flowsheet of the washing Process with recovery of Fines

Table 1: Characteristics of Beneficiated Bauxite

2.2 Reduction of Reactive Silica
In the Laboratories of AKW A+V another South
American Bauxite has been treated with a slightly
different goal. To improve the quality of ROM
Bauxite which was not mined in recent years due
to the high content of reactive silica (mainly
kaolinitic impurities), AKW A + V has developed
a concept for a semi-mobile washing plant which
can be operated nearby the old mine sites.
A Box Feeder with a static grizzly (safety
screen) to separate particles +500 mm, is fed by
wheel loaders with the bauxite ore. The –500 mm
material is fed onto a Wobbler (roller bar grizzly),
which is able to classify sticky materials. The
forced movement of the bulky material leads to a
cleaning of the coarse material (500–150 mm)
and therefore to a higher quality of this product.
A conveyor belt feeds the minus 150 mm
particles to the following washing drum.
The Washing drum elutriates the clayey and
kaolinitic fines and washes the coarser Bauxite
particles. At the output of the drum, a screen
basket separates the first washed bauxite fraction,
+16 mm. The rest of the washed bauxite is
screened on a classifying screen at approx 2 mm
cut size. The overflow of the screen is washed
bauxite with a grain size 2–16 mm.
Mineral Processing Technologies in the Bauxite & Alumina Industry
Fig. 4: Simplified Flowsheet of the washing process
The underflow of the screen (–2 mm) is
collected in a Pump Sump. The suspension is fed
to a Hydrocyclone, which separates the elutriated
clayey fines into the overflow. The underflow of
the hydrocyclone, which is a washed bauxite, is
dewatered with a dewatering screen.
To get clean process water the overflow of
the hydrocyclone can either be led into a settling
pond, or has to be treated in a process water
recycling and sludge treatment plant, mainly
consisting of a thickener and filter.
An additional Hydrosizer for the correction
of the cut size of the cyclone can be installed, if
the Bauxite qualities will change in the future.
3. ALUMINA
It is well known that the aluminium oxide is
released from the other substances in bauxite in a
hot caustic soda solution, so alumina dissolves to
form sodium aluminate leaving other minerals in
the ore in the form of red mud. The “pregnant”
solution is washed and filtered to remove all
insoluble particles.
The saturated sodium aluminate solution is
cooled, and seeded with aluminium trihydroxide
crystals. The alumina in solution precipitates as
the trihydroxide, which is separated as product
with special grain size requirements by means of
104
hydrocyclones. The hydrate is then calcined at
1050°C to form pure alumina.
For a high quality product, hydrocyclones are
used to separate the coarse crystals from the
slurry to get a so called “sandy alumina”. The
finer particles are reciculated to the precipitation
process as Fine- and/or Coarse Seed. Besides the
classification of Aluminium Hydrate typical
applications for Mineral Processing Technologies
are found in the desanding of hot liquor.
Depending on the Bauxite quality, a
desanding process has to be integrated into the
process chain before the Red Mud settling. The
aim of the desanding is the reduction of coarse
particles (~100–150 µm) in the feed of the
clarification settlers.
In most refineries this is done by a
combination of hydrocyclones and spiral or rake
classifiers. The operation of this type of
equipment is quite expensive due to high
maintenance cost and the process results are in
some operations unsatisfying.
AKW A+V has developed a new concept for
this application. The spiral- or rake-classifiers are
substituted by a special designed dewatering-
screen. This system is tested in a pilot plant in the
refinery of Bauxilum. It has already been in
operation for more than 9 month and has reached
good operational performance.
105  Mineral Processing Technology (MPT 2007)

Fig. 5: Simplified Flowsheet of the traditional desanding process

Fig. 6: AKW A+V Desanding Unit

This unit consist mainly of: 0.5 m³ per ton Sand

Cyclones
Primary: Ni-Hard/Ceramic Cyclone
Secondary: Casted Steel Cyclone
Washing/Dewatering Screen Unit
fully equipped with with all Pumps, Valves
and
Switch Cabinet
The obtained average process results are:
Consumption of wash water:
Moisture: 15–20%
NaOH content: <2%
4. CONCLUSION
It has to be stated that the use of mineral processing
technologies in the Alumina & Bauxite industry is
established inside the refinery for the feed
preparation (crushing, milling) and the Alumina
classification. The equipment which is used is
well proven and of economical benefits.
Mineral Processing Technologies in the Bauxite & Alumina Industry 106
The conventional process for the desanding
of hot liquor can be improved significantly by a
change the equipment and the flow sheet.
The increasing demand for High Quality feed
of the refinery will influence the processing of
Bauxite considerably. There is a trend for the
beneficiation of the ROM Bauxite with classical
mineral processing technologies.

REFERENCES

[1] Constraints on the Global Availability of Bauxite

Reserves* J.
Hausberg, F.M. Meyer, U. Happel Institute of
Mineralogy and Economic Geology University
of Technology Aachen, Germany M. Mistry
Institute of Mining Engineering I University of
Technology Aachen, Germany; Applied
Mineralogy. Rammlmair et al., (eds), 2000
Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 341-344.
[2] Beneficiation of High Quartz Content Bauxite
from Los Pijiguaos
Jean-Marc Rousseaux, Hans Verschuur, Pedro
Flores, Stephan Buntenbach, Fred Donhauser ;
Light Metals 2006 Edited by A.T. Tabereaux
TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials
Society), 2006.
[3] Mineral Processing Technologies in the Bauxite
& Alumina Industry
Buntenbach, S., Donhauser, F., Basu, G. and
Chatterjee, S.; MBD 2006, Beneficiation And
Value Added Mineral Products, November 27-28,
2006, Nagpur, pp. 43-60.