Extraction of alumina and silica from high-silica bauxite by sintering with sodium carbonate followed by two-step leaching with water and sulfuric acid.

Efficient utilization of high-silica bauxite and minimization of bauxite residue are of great significance for the sustainable development of the alumina industry. In this paper, a novel process is proposed to extract AlO and SiO from high-silica bauxite without residue discharge, that is, sintering bauxite with NaCO followed by two-step leaching with water and sulfuric acid. The effects of the sintering parameters on the process were investigated, and the phase transformations during sintering and leaching were revealed by using phase diagram, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) methods.