Bauxite tailings. Red Mud Waste
Bauxite tailing liners
Bauxite is the naturally way form of aluminium ore, being the world's main source of aluminium. It is often strip mined/open-pits and normally processed into alumina. Approximately four or five tonnes of bauxite are needed to produce one tonne of aluminium. Over 95% of the alumina produced globally is through the bayer process.
Geomembranes for red mud tailings
Bauxite residue tailings, also called red mud, is an inevitable secondary product that is generated in the extraction of alumina from bauxite by the Bayer process. There is no economic alternative route existing or likely to emerge within the next 50 years so the generation of bauxite residue will continue for many decades. The bauxite refining alumina production generates liquors with highly alkaline pH leachate as well as elevated temperature of cooling water. As such, high performance geomembranes are needed for this specific environment.
