Extraction of Aluminium from Kaolin: a Comparative Study of Hydrometallurgical Processes

Abstract -The increase of aluminium demand globally, raises the interest of developing alternative technologies to produce alumina from non-bauxitic sources, especially clays. This paper studies the extraction of aluminium from kaolin through leaching process, using aqueous solutions of acids and bases, as leaching agents. For this study, crude kaolin excavated in Milos Island, Greece, was used. Before leaching, crude kaolin was calcined; calcination achieves the dehydroxylation of kaolinite, which is the main mineralogical phase of kaolin and its transformation to metakaolin, an amorphous Al-Si phase from which aluminium is easily leached. Calcination of the crude kaolin used in this work was taken place at 850 o C for 2 h, given that these conditions revealed as optimum in the relevant experimental investigation. Leaching of aluminium from the calcined kaolin was performed with aqueous solutions of mineral acids (HCl, HNO 3 and H 2 SO 4 ), organic acids (C 2 H 2 O 4 , C 2 H 4 O 2 and C 6 H 8 O 7 ) and bases (NaOH, KOH and NH 4 OH). All leaching experiments were performed under constant conditions, regardless the leaching agent used. According to the experimental results, acids were proved more effective in aluminium extraction, than bases. However, aluminum extraction was accompanied by simultaneous extraction of Si which comprises an important impurity for the production of alumina from the pregnant liquor. Based on this consideration, oxalic acid was revealed as the most effective leaching agent, yielding more than 75% extraction of Al and less than 5% Si extraction