Production of pig iron from nalco redmud by application of plasma smelting technology

Abstract

Red Mud, a by-product generated from the caustic leaching of bauxite to produce alumina in the Bayer Process, causes serious environmental problems and is considered as a hazardous industrial waste. A novel process has been developed for production of Pig Iron from NALCO Red Mud by employing Plasma Smelting Technology. Red Mud containing 15-40% Fe2O3 was subjected to Thermal Plasma Smelting by use of Extended Arc Plasma Reactor at a temperature of 1600°C for a period of 30 minutes and high quality Pig Iron was produced. Effect of various process parameters like basicity, amount of reductant, plasmagen gas, input electric power and reduction time for recovery of Pig Iron has been studied and optimized. Basicity of 0.3, reduction time of 25 minutes at 12.5 kW power was found to be optimum for maximum recovery of pig iron (70%) from Red Mud in 1kg scale.