Low-temperature thermal conversion of Al-substituted goethite in gibbsitic bauxite for maximum alumina extraction

The conversion of Al-substituted goethite (Al-goethite) to hematite in gibbsitic bauxite is conducive to alumina extraction during the Bayer process and the enrichment of iron minerals in red mud. In this work, mineralogical characteristics of gibbsitic bauxite were identified by AMICS analysis, and the low-temperature thermal conversion behavior of both synthetic Al-goethite and natural Al-goethite in gibbsitic bauxite were investigated through thermal gravity analysis, phase transformation, and microstructure studies. Results show that the proportion of aluminum in Al-goethite reached 12.68% of the total aluminum content in gibbsitic bauxite. The conversion of synthetic Al-goethite to hematite starts at ∼280 °C, while that of natural Al-goethite starts at ∼320 °C, and the addition of NaOH can accelerate the conversion. The formed hematite inherits the needle-like appearance of the original Al-goethite, has many holes on the surface due to dehydroxylation, and no migration of aluminum elements occurs during the roasting process, indicating that Al-goethite transformed into porous Al-substituted hematite (Al-hematite), which is beneficial to the extraction of the aluminum retained in the hematite structure during Bayer digestion. To confirm the above results, digestion experiments (without or with roasting for typical Bayer digestion or low-temperature roasting-Bayer digestion) were carried out with gibbsitic bauxite and the one roasted at 400 °C for 30 min as raw materials, respectively. Compared to the typical Bayer digestion, the relative alumina recovery of low-temperature roasting-Bayer digestion increased from 90.06% to 95.65%, the red mud yield decreased from 36.32% to 34.08%, and the grade of Fe in red mud increased from 48.45% to 52.88% at 270 °C for 60 min. Enhanced transformation of Al-goethite significantly improves alumina recovery and the resultant iron-rich red mud can be easily co-processed in the steel industry, thus significant emission reduction of red mud from the Bayer system might be achieved.