The recycling of alumina production waste is a global problem with only 10% of it recycled, the rest is stored in special disposal areas.

In 2011 RUSAL's engineers in partnership with scientists from UralPromEnergoproject, Institute of Chemistry of Russian Academy of Sciences (Ural Branch) and the National University of Science and Technology (MISIS) conducted a series of research projects on red mud and its recycling opportunities, including studies on dealkalization, evaporation, concentration and rare element extraction.

The research results will be used to create a prototype red mud recycling facility with 200,000 tonnes annual capacity. Following its launch, UAZ will establish red mud recycling operations, creating a new production market and look to replicate the technology in other RUSAL subsidiaries. RUSAL's specialists estimate that the potential market demand on the red mud recycle products could be up to 2.3 million tonnes of mud annually.

In 2012 UAZ will use a temporary process solution to supply 3,000 tonnes of dealkalized red mud for iron and steel industry, where soda has been an unwanted impurity for the blast-furnace method.

Viktor Mann, UC RUSAL's R&D Director said: ‘Following the launch of the facility, UAZ will have a real environmentally clean alternative to red mud disposal areas. The corporate programme of the complex wasteless alumina production enables the use of red mud in iron and steel industry with simultaneous extraction of rare elements, primarily scandium. ’

In addition, this innovative recycling technology could be used at Bogoslovsk aluminium smelter, Nikolaev alumina refinery and other overseas alumina refineries in Ireland, Guinea, Australia and Jamaica.

Subsidiary details
UC RUSAL's Urals aluminium smelter (UAZ) is a production complex that includes an aluminium smelter and an alumina refinery in Kamensk-Uralsky (Sverdlovsk Region). It consumes bauxites of the Severouralsk and Sredne-Timansk deposits. The complex started operations in 1939.