SBIR Phase I: Extraction of iron material from red mud using a novel combination of ionic liquids, solvents and electrochemistry

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是提高采矿业的资源效率和可持续性。“红泥”是铝型材生产过程中关键步骤产生的危险废物。每生产一吨铝，就需要将2.5吨的赤泥泵入尾矿库。每年生产1.2亿吨赤泥，其中300多亿吨储存在世界各地的尾矿池中。该项目推进了一项技术，通过创新的金属提取减少废物量，从废物中创造一个可行的金属来源。 这一过程还可以为电动汽车、风能和其他应用创造关键金属供应。SBIR第一阶段项目旨在开发一种端到端的赤泥加工工艺。它将利用离子液体作为高选择性溶剂，使各种不同的金属化合物从混合和可变的无机原料中精确分离。 与通常在1000摄氏度以上操作的当前工业实践相比，这种方法允许更低的温度操作，从而大大降低了能耗，从而降低了金属材料加工的成本。此外，离子液体在低温下的独特性质使其非常适合用作生产纯金属材料的电化学过程中的电解质。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为是值得支持的。

The broader impacts/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve resource efficiency and sustainability to the mining industry. "Red mud" is a hazardous waste product of a key step in aluminum production. For every ton of aluminum produced, 2.5 tons of red mud are pumped into a tailings pond. 120 million tons of red mud are produced annually, with over 30 billion stored in tailings ponds around the world. This project advances a technology to reduce the volume of waste with innovative metals extraction, creating a viable source of metals from waste. This process could also create a supply of critical metals for electric vehicles, wind energy, and other applications. This SBIR Phase I project seeks to develop an end-to-end process for red mud processing. It will utilize ionic liquids as highly selective solvents enabling precise separation of a variety of different metal compounds from a mixed and variable inorganic feedstock. Compared to current industrial practices that typically operate above 1000 degrees C, this approach allows a much lower temperature operation, drastically reducing the energy consumption and thus the cost of metal material processing. Additionally, the unique properties of ionic liquids at low temperatures make them ideal for use as electrolytes in electrochemical processes producing pure metal materials. The proposed project will conduct a feasibility study at laboratory scale.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.