PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Energy-intensive activities including steel and aluminium production use refractory, or heat-resistant, products as protective linings in furnaces. Refractory products are produced from industrial minerals including magnesite, graphite, dolomite and bauxite. For producing melted aluminium, bauxite-based refractory castables – or bauxite moulded into bricks or other shapes – are essential.
The European Union is heavily dependent on imports of refractory industrial minerals, including bauxite. The EU imports around half a million tonnes of refractory-grade bauxite each year, mainly from China. EU importers are therefore at the mercy of (restrictive) Chinese export policies.
Bauxite could be substituted by a secondary raw material that arises in the recycling of salt slag – the residue of salt used in aluminium refining. The European aluminium industry produces one million tonnes per year of salt slag from the secondary melting of aluminium scraps. Salt slag contains salts, aluminium oxide, aluminium metal and impurities and is classified in the EU as hazardous waste. It can be treated and separated into metals and non-metal residues, from which a substitute for bauxite could be derived.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE BAUXAL-II project will set up a pilot plant and use an innovative process to transform the non-metallic concentrate which is a by-product of the recycling of aluminium salt slag into a refractory material – known as BAUXAL. This will be a suitable substitute for refractory-grade bauxites and its production will therefore reduce the EU’s reliance on imports of bauxite.
The project will demonstrate resource efficiency and contribute to the implementation of circular economy policy by replacing natural minerals with a secondary material derived from a recycling process.
Expected results:
