Estudos sobre a utilização de resíduos do beneficiamento do alumínio como matéria-prima cerâmica

Abstract

Aluminum dross from the processing of bauxite ores still contain a reasonable amount of metallic Al. Therefore, it is attractive for many companies to recover the remaining Al from the dross in rotary furnaces usin g molten salts. The residue from this operation, called salt cake, is rich in solubl e salts (50 a 70%), and still contains about 5% Al. This material is harmful to the enviro nment and must be properly treated and disposed. It is possible to use it as a raw material for the cement and refractory industries, due to the high amounts of a lumina present. This work presents preliminary results on the use of a black dross (after salt removal by washing ) for the manufacturing of refractory ceram ics. Test pieces were pressed at 26 MPa and fired at 1000, 1200 e 1500°C. The mat erial was characterized by X! ray diffraction and X!ray fluorescency. Water absor ption, linear retraction and microhardness tests were also performed in order to assess the properties of the samples