Aluminium salt slag characterization and utilization--a review

Aluminium salt slag (also known as aluminium salt cake), which is produced by the secondary aluminium industry, is formed during aluminium scrap/dross melting and contains 15-30% aluminium oxide, 30-55% sodium chloride, 15-30% potassium chloride, 5-7% metallic aluminium and impurities (carbides, nitrides, sulphides and phosphides). Depending on the raw mix the amount of salt slag produced per tonne of secondary aluminium ranges from 200 to 500 kg. As salt slag has been classified as toxic and hazardous waste, it should be managed in compliance with the current legislation. Its landfill disposal is forbidden in most of the European countries and it should be recycled and processed in a proper way by taking the environmental impact into consideration. This paper presents a review of the aluminium salt slag chemical and mineralogical characteristics, as well as various processes for metal recovery, recycling of sodium and potassium chlorides content back to the smelting process and preparation of value added products from the final non metallic residue.