An active dealkalization of red mud with roasting and water leaching

•The dealkalization of active roasting and water leaching from red mud was put forward.•The main factors on dealkalization during active roasting and water leaching were investigated.•The mechanism of dealkalization from red mud was in-depth studied in the process. The research has focused on the dealkalization of red mud after active roasting and water leaching, which is obtained from bauxite during alumina production. The main factors such as roasting temperature, roasting time, water leaching stage, leaching temperature, leaching reaction time and liquid to solid ratio were investigated. The mechanism of dealkalization was in-depth studied by using ICP–AES, XRD, TG-DSC, SEM–EDS and leaching kinetic. The results show that the dealkalization rate reached 82% under the condition of roasting temperature of 700°C, roasting time of 30min, four stage water leaching, liquid to solid ratio of 7mL/g, leaching temperature of 90°C and reaction time of 60min. The diffraction peak of Na6CaAl6Si6(CO3)O24·2H2O in red mud was decreased during the active roasting process, whereas the mineral phases of NaOH·H2O and Na2Ca(CO3)2 were appeared. The content of alkali obviously decreased and the grade of other elements increased during the process of active roasting and water leaching, which was in favor of next application process of red mud. The water leaching was controlled by internal diffusion of SCM and the apparent activation energy was 22.63kJ/mol.