Recycling valuable elements from aluminum dross

Aluminum dross (AD) from aluminum alloy production is harmful for the environment, while it also contains valuable metal and oxides. Therefore, its comprehensive utilization in an environmental-friendly route is of great importance for the sustainable development of the aluminum industry. Therefore, a green route to comprehensively reuse AD was proposed in this paper. Effects of different processing conditions on extraction behaviors of aluminum, soluble salt and aluminum nitride (AlN) were studied. The extraction rate of aluminum can reach 96.5% with processing temperature of 750 °C, processing time of 40 min, and refining agent addition of 10 wt%. With the liquid–solid mass ratio of 10, the leaching time of 8 h, the leaching temperature of 90 °C and stirring speed of 300 rad/min, the maximum leaching rate of chlorine salt, fluorine salt and hydrolysis of AlN can reach 98.4%, 93.4% and 87.6%, respectively. The tailings after leaching treatment can be used in a variety of applications, such as the production of cement, ceramic and refractory which can be used in the chemical and metallurgical industry.