New development model for bauxite deposits - Dedicated compact refinery

Abstract

An alternative development approach for bauxite deposits proposed in a TMS 2011 paper1 results in a more efficient use of resources and lowers the threshold to develop bauxite & alumina projects. The new approach represents a paradigm shift from “Bigger is Better” to “Smart & Small”, and is based on an alumina refinery with the following characteristics: Dedicated plant design and layout, “designing a greenfield plant as a brownfield expansion”, resulting in lower capital cost per tonne of alumina (tA) capacity;Compact plant production capacity, resulting in a simple and limited scope, further improving capital cost per tA capacity; andSustainability embedded in the design. The current paper explores some aspects of this “DCS-model” such as design basis, plant areas, equipment sparing and layout, applied to a 400,000 t/y alumina refinery. Sustainability will be the subject of a separate paper.