Alkalinity neutralization and structure upgrade of bauxite residue waste via synergistic pyrolysis with biomass

Bauxite residues, a large volume solid waste, are in urgent need of effective disposal and management. Especially, strategies to alleviate the high alkalinity of bauxite residue remain a big challenge. Here, we developed a synergistic pyrolysis to neutralize the alkalinity of bauxite residue and upgrade the structure of biomass simultaneously. By cooperating the catalytic feature from bauxite residue, rice straw, a cellulose-enriched biomass, could prefer to produce acidic components under a hypothermal pyrolysis temperature (below 250 °C) and partial oxygen-contained atmosphere as evidenced by the synchronous TGA-FTIR analysis. In return, these in-situ produced acidic components neutralized the bauxite residue profoundly (pH decreased from 11.5 to 7.2) to obtain a neutral product with long-term water leaching stability. Also, a higher pyrolysis temperature led to neutral biochar-based products with well-defined carbonization characteristics. Thus, the biomass-driven pyrolysis strategy provides a potential to dispose the alkalinity issue of bauxite residue and further opportunities for the sustainable reuse and continuing management of bauxite residue.