Low-Quality Aluminum-Containing Raw Materials: Experience, Problems and Prospects

Aluminum containing materials—nephelines, leucites, clays, and industry-related wastes are considered as raw materials to produce alumina and coproducts as an alternative to bauxite. The current industrial processing of aluminosilicate raw materials by the sintering method is characterized by high energy consumption, which ultimately affects its cost competitiveness in comparison with bauxite processing by the Bayer process. Variants of processing alumosilicate raw materials in the areas of increasing the complexity of its use, modification of technology to reduce payback period and energy consumption are given. Practical experience is considered and other options for obtaining alumina from nonconventional raw materials are discussed. The presented options allow for significantly reducing the cost of obtained alumina and expanding the scope of raw materials that can be considered for processing.