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和高性能工艺的计划，以将工业废物估价为需求不断增加的高价值金属。更具体地说，它将调查从力拓位于加拿大Jonquiere的氧化铝生产厂(Vaudreuil Works)生产的铝土矿残渣中提取钪的情况。拟议的价化工艺还可以生产高需求的难熔金属，如钛、Nb和高纯生铁，这使得该工艺更经济、更坚固和更有吸引力。拟议研究的成功完成将导致工艺开发和创新，将原本的废物流转化为下一代高能效产品的宝贵战略材料。四年的交付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。该工艺将由三部分组成：1)基于碳热还原的创新冶炼工艺，以降低铝土矿残渣中的铁含量；2)基于酸性焙烧水浸出的浸出工艺，从冶炼渣中提取有价值的金属；以及3)绿色固液萃取，从渗滤液中分离出有价值的金属。拟议的项目对加拿大人非常有利，因为它通过1)工业废物价格化和2)生产清洁能源技术所需的有价值的金属来解决战略材料供应的瓶颈，从而带来显著的环境和经济效益。拟议的项目将进一步提高加拿大在战略材料资源量方面的竞争力，以及在提取和加工这些材料方面的技术优势。此外，还将培训顶尖的高素质人员，使其能够在加拿大矿产部门就业。

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.