Leaching of Iron and Aluminum from Red Mud and Preparation of Coagulants

Red mud is generated as a waste byproduct during the production of aluminum hydroxide/alumina from bauxite ore in the Bayer process. In this study coagulants for wastewater treatment were prepared by leaching iron and aluminum from red mud with hydrochloric acid. The removal efficiency of heavy metal ions by the red mud coagulant increased with increasing the adjusted pH value of the synthetic wastewater. When the red mud coagulant was prepared, the leaching efficiency of Fe decreased with increasing the weight of red mud, while the pH value of the red mud coagulant increased. The solution of the red mud coagulant mixed with water was reacted again with red mud to produce the leached solution, which had higher concentrations of Fe and Al and a higher pH value than the red mud coagulant. Also, its pH value was comparable to that of other coagulants: and .