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Bayer Process

The Bayer process involves digesting bauxite ore with a hot sodium hydroxide solution, which dissolves the aluminum oxide and forms sodium aluminate. Impurities are removed by filtering, while aluminum hydroxide precipitates from the solution and is calcined to produce aluminum oxide. The sodium hydroxide solution is recycled, but builds up impurities over time that must be extracted. For bauxites with over 10% silica, an alternative process must be used due to insoluble sodium aluminum silicate formation reducing yields.

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607 views1 page

Bayer Process

The Bayer process involves digesting bauxite ore with a hot sodium hydroxide solution, which dissolves the aluminum oxide and forms sodium aluminate. Impurities are removed by filtering, while aluminum hydroxide precipitates from the solution and is calcined to produce aluminum oxide. The sodium hydroxide solution is recycled, but builds up impurities over time that must be extracted. For bauxites with over 10% silica, an alternative process must be used due to insoluble sodium aluminum silicate formation reducing yields.

Uploaded by

Wade Coleman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Process

The Bayer process


In the Bayer process, bauxite is digested by washing with a hot solution of sodium hydroxide, NaOH,
at 175 C, under pressure. This converts the aluminium oxide in the ore to soluble sodium aluminate,
2NaAlO2, according to the chemical equation:
Al2O3 + 2 NaOH + 3 H2O 2 NaAlO2
This treatment also dissolves silica, but the other components of bauxite do not dissolve. Sometimes
lime is added here, to precipitate the silica as calcium silicate. The solution is clarified by filtering off
the solid impurities, commonly with a rotary sand trap, and a flocculant such as starch, to get rid of
the fine particles. The mixture of solid impurities is called red mud. Originally, the alkaline solution
was cooled and treated by bubbling carbon dioxide into it, through which aluminium hydroxide
precipitates:
2 NaAlO2 + CO2 2 Al(OH)3 + Na2CO3 + H2O
But later, this gave way to seeding the supersaturated solution with high-purity aluminum hydroxide
(Al(OH)3) crystal, which eliminated the need for cooling the liquid and was more economically
feasible:
2 H2O + NaAlO2 Al(OH)3 + NaOH
Then, when heated to 980C (calcined), the aluminium hydroxide decomposes to aluminium oxide,
giving off water vapor in the process:
2 Al(OH)3 Al2O3 + 3 H2O
The left-over NaOH solution is then recycled. This, however, allows gallium and vanadium impurities
to build up in the liquors, so these are extracted.
For bauxites having more than 10% silica, Bayer process becomes infeasible due to insoluble sodium
aluminum silicate being formed, which reduces yield, and another process must be chosen.

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