Red mud is a toxic byproduct of the industrial process that refines bauxite, raw aluminum ore, into aluminum oxide ... solution of a strong base — sodium hydroxide (lye or caustic soda ...

Heretofore the only commercial source of alumina—the oxide from which the pure ... When the hot lye cools in towering tanks, pure aluminum hydroxide separates from it and is ready to be baked ...

Sodium hydroxide isn’t super safe, but it is much less problem to buy, store, and use than battery acid. Aluminum naturally forms an oxide layer on its surface when exposed to air. Anodizing in ...

When bauxite (raw aluminum ore) is processed into aluminum oxide, or alumina, it's first bathed in a solution of sodium hydroxide (lye) at very high temperatures. Aluminum compounds in the bauxite ...

Aluminum production is petering out in Germany ... For the process, the factory needs 100,000 cubic meters of soda lye which serves as a solvent. The company employs 500 people, making it the ...

At this stage, the sodium hydroxide selectively dissolves aluminum oxide from the bauxite, leaving behind other minerals as impurities. Filtration: Impurities are separated and filtered from the ...