Iron Recovery from Bauxite Residue Through Reductive Roasting and Wet Magnetic Separation

The scope of this work is to develop and optimize a reductive roasting process followed by wet magnetic separation for iron recovery from bauxite residue (BR). The aim of the roasting process is the transformation of the nonmagnetic iron phases found in BR (namely hematite and goethite), to magnetic ones such as magnetite, wüstite, and metallic iron. The magnetic iron phases in the roasting residue can be fractionated in a second stage through wet magnetic separation, forming a valuable iron concentrate and leaving a nonmagnetic residue containing rare earth elements among other constituents. The BR-roasting process has been modeled using a thermochemical software (FactSage 6.4) to define process temperature, Carbon/Bauxite Residue mass ratio (C/BR), retention time, and process atmosphere. Roasting process experiments with different ratios of C/BR (0.112 and 0.225) and temperatures (800 and 1100 °C), 4-h retention time, and, in the presence of N 2 atmosphere, have proven almost the total conversion of hematite to iron magnetic phases (> 99 wt%). Subsequently, the magnetic separation process has been examined by means of a wet high-intensity magnetic separator, and the analyses have shown a marginal Fe enrichment in magnetic fraction in relation to the sinter.