Fabrication of Polyaluminium Ferric Sulfate from Bauxite Residue for Efficient Removal of Cr(VI) from Simulated Wastewater

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology 2022-07, Vol.109 (1), p.142-148
• Main Authors: Lan, Zhiqiang, Wan, Si, Chen, Runhua, Wang, Yangyang, Yuan, Cuiyu, Fan, Ke, Xu, Xikai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminum oxide; Alzheimer's disease; Aquatic Pollution; Bauxite; Bayer process; Chromium; Drinking water; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Efficiency; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental impact; Environmental science; Fabrication; Ferric sulfate; Fluorides; Fourier transforms; Gypsum; Iron; Iron sulfates; Land resources; Leachates; Morphology; Pollutants; Pollution; Raw materials; Red mud; Residues; Scanning electron microscopy; Soil Science & Conservation; Sulfates; Toxicology; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater; Water Management; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-022-03494-7

Bauxite residue is generated from alumina production in the alumina refining industry by the Bayer process, which requires a large amount of land resource and causes serious environmental problems. In this paper, a novel recycling strategy is proposed to rehabilitate the land and produce the polyaluminium ferric sulfate (PAFS) and siliceous gypsum byproducts from the bauxite residue. The batch experiments reveal that the maximum Cr(VI) removal efficiency of as-prepared PAFS can reach 95.80% with an initial concentration of 10.41 mg/L. In addition, the non-toxic siliceous gypsum should be an ideal raw material for cement plants. Various characterizations (e.g., SEM, FTIR, and XRD) are employed to reveal the mechanism of synthesis PAFS and their Cr(VI) removal performance. Consequently, this paper provides a deep insight into the utilization of bauxite residue as a resource and gives a new strategy for preparing PAFS and gypsum from bauxite residue.