Developing innovative processes to recover scandium and refractory metals from bauxite residue

该提案描述了开发环境可持续性和高性能工艺的计划，以将工业废物转化为需求不断增长的高价值金属。更具体地说，它将调查从位于加拿大琼基耶尔的力拓氧化铝生产厂（Vaudreuil Works）生产的铝土矿残渣中提取钪的情况。所提出的增值工艺还生产高需求的难熔金属，如钛、铌和高纯生铁，这使得该工艺更经济、稳健和有吸引力。成功完成拟议的研究将导致工艺开发和创新，将废物流转化为下一代节能产品的宝贵战略材料。四年的交付成果是实验室规模的创新和绿色工艺，利用铝土矿残渣生产高价值产品。该工艺将包括三个组成部分：1）基于碳热还原的创新冶炼工艺，以降低铝土矿渣中的铁含量; 2）基于酸焙烧水浸出的浸出工艺，从冶炼渣中提取有价值的金属; 3）绿色固液萃取，从浸出液中分离有价值的金属。拟议的项目对加拿大人非常有利，因为它通过解决战略材料供应的瓶颈带来了显著的环境和经济效益：1）工业废物价值化，2）生产清洁能源技术所需的有价值金属。拟议的项目将进一步提高加拿大在战略物资资源数量方面的竞争力及其在这些物资的提取和加工方面的技术优势。此外，顶级高素质的人员将接受培训，在加拿大矿产部门的职业生涯。

This proposal describes the plan for developing environmentally sustainable and performant processes to valorize industrial waste to high value metals that are in increasing demand. More specifically, it will investigate the extraction of scandium from the bauxite residue produced in Rio Tinto's alumina production plant (Vaudreuil Works) located in Jonquiere, Canada. The proposed valorization process also produces refractory metals in high demand, such as titanium, niobium, and high purity pig iron, which makes the process more economical, robust, and attractive. The successful completion of the proposed research would result in process development and innovations to transform an otherwise waste stream to valuable strategic materials for the next generation of energy-efficient products. The four-year deliverable is lab-scale innovative and green processes to utilize bauxite residue to produce high value products. The process will consist of three components: 1) innovative smelting process based on carbothermic reduction to reduce the iron content of the bauxite residue, 2) leaching processes based upon acid baking water leaching to extract valuable metals from the smelting slag, and 3) green solid-liquid extraction to separate value metals from the leachate. The proposed project is highly beneficial for Canadians, as it delivers significant environmental and economic benefits by resolving the bottleneck for strategic materials supply through 1) industrial waste valorization, and 2) production of valuable metals required for the clean-energy technologies. The proposed project will further improve Canada's competitiveness in the amount of resources for strategic materials and its technical edge in extraction and processing of these materials. In addition, top high quality personnel will be trained for careers in the Canadian Minerals sector.