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Migration of Alkaline Constituents and Restoration Evaluation in Bauxite Residue Disposal Areas

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Abstract

Bauxite residue is a highly alkaline waste from alumina refining, and is mainly disposed by stacking with high environmental risks. Here, the migration of alkaline constituents and the restoration evaluation with phosphogypsum were discussed by soil column experiments to investigate the alkaline regulation in bauxite residue disposal areas (BRDAs). The pH, free alkali, exchangeable sodium in the top layer (0–25 cm depth) covered with BR and phosphogypsum mixtures were reduced from 10.89 ± 0.02, 285.45 ± 21.15 mmol/kg, 385.63 ± 30.34 mg/kg to 9.00 ± 0.50, 12.50 ± 1.50 mmol/kg, 97.00 ± 10.50 mg/kg. For the sublayers, including depths of 35, 45, 55 cm, these values dropped to 9.86, 10.06, 10.03; 38.23, 86.12, 148.00 mmol/kg; 152.90, 246.00, 305.00 mg/kg, respectively. These results indicated alkaline indicators for phosphogypsum amended BR declined dramatically, and the parameters for sublayers were also decreased due to the migration of alkaline constituents. The physicochemical properties for amended BR could meet the conditions for plant growth. This research provided a reference for alkalinity regulation in BRDAs by phosphogypsum.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42030711; 42177391) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University. We also thank Yifan Jiang, Feng Zhu, and Ying Guo for their valuable suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Co. LTD, 966 Lushan South Road, Changsha, 410012, Hunan, China

    Yiwei Li

  2. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, 932 Lushan South Road, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Yiwei Li, Qihou Li, Zhihong Peng, Shengguo Xue & Jun Jiang

  3. School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Wei Sun

  4. Institute for Future Environments, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

    Graeme J. Millar

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  1. Yiwei Li
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  2. Qihou Li
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Correspondence to Jun Jiang.

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Li, Y., Li, Q., Sun, W. et al. Migration of Alkaline Constituents and Restoration Evaluation in Bauxite Residue Disposal Areas. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 109, 20–29 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03434-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03434-x

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