Research on High-Pressure Hydrochloric Acid Leaching of Scandium, Aluminum and Other Valuable Components from the Non-Magnetic Tailings Obtained from Red Mud after Iron Removal

Red mud is a hazardous waste of the alumina industry that contains high amounts of iron, aluminum, titanium and rare-earth elements (REEs). One of the promising methods for the extraction of iron from red mud is carbothermic reduction with the addition of sodium salts. This research focuses on the process of hydrochloric high-pressure acid leaching using 10 to 20% HCl of two samples of non-magnetic tailings obtained by 60 min carbothermic roasting of red mud at 1300 °C and the mixture of 84.6 wt.% of red mud and 15.4 wt.% Na2SO4 at 1150 °C, respectively, with subsequent magnetic separation of metallic iron. The influence of temperature, leaching duration, solid-to-liquid-ratio and acid concentration on the dissolution behavior of Al, Ti, Mg, Ca, Si, Fe, Na, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sc, Zr was studied. Based on the investigation of the obtained residues, a mechanism for passing valuable elements into the solution was proposed. It has shown that 90% Al, 91% Sc and above 80% of other REEs can be dissolved under optimal conditions; Ti can be extracted into the solution or the residue depending on the leaching temperature and acid concentration. Based on the research results, novel flowsheets for red mud treatment were developed.