First Industrial Scale Process Concept for the Reengineered Pedersen Process within ENSUREAL

Abstract

The Pedersen Process was developed at the beginning of the 20th century as an alternative process to the Bayer route for producing alumina Al2O3. A successful operation in an industrial environment took place in Norway from 1925 to 1969. It ended due to economic reasons. Having a smaller environmental footprint (no bauxite residue) and the ability to handle alternative raw materials makes the approach promising for grappling with future challenges in Europe. This paper shows the status of the ongoing European Commission-funded work and the outline of a first industrial process concept.

Keywords

• alumina production
• Pedersen Process
• alternative to Bayer Process
• zero-waste process
• pig iron by-product