FROTA, Luis Eduardo Medeiros.
Resumo:
The aluminum oxide, Al2O3, commonly called alumina it is a compound widely used in chemical industry and is present in toothpastes, ink, water treatment additives and others. However aluminum industry is the principal client where is the main raw material for production of this metal.
Most of the aluminum oxide produced today has Bauxite as the main source. The aluminum is present in this ore as oxi-hydroxides which are the main: gibbsita Al(OH)3, diasporo AlO(OH) and boehmita AlO(OH). The refining process for obtaining alumina from bauxite most commonly is the Bayer Process where ore is attacked with a caustic solution based on sodium hydroxide (NaOH) in order to solubilize the aluminum subsequent to recrystallization. The various steps of ore processing are set and adjusted based on the characteristics used as, eg, chemical, mineralogical composition and particle size. Bauxites with different characteristics require different processing. With the increasing demand for alumina, new bauxite sources need to be explored and to know what kind of changes new ore source could require is fundamental. This work aimed to evaluate possible impacts caused by a new source and use this information to evaluate a new mine operation and increase processing capacity at Refinery.
Chemical characterization and reproduction of some stages of the Bayer process in bench showed that material from the new source of bauxite does not differ significantly in relation to the first ore confirming investments for opening a anew mine with a capacity of 4 million tons per year supporting production increase refinery production capacity of 1,5 million tons of alumina per year.
