Chinas bauxite reserves and production are among the highest in the world. As an important raw material for aluminum smelting and alumina production, bauxite is widely used in transportation, construction, painting and many other fields. As the demand for aluminum increases, the importance of bauxite to China and even the world economy will continue to rise.,
Bauxite ore contains a large amount of aluminum oxide and other minerals, and is mainly distributed in tropical countries with high temperatures and humidity, such as Jamaica, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam and Brazil. In China, there are mainly concentrated in Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Guangxi and other regions, which is the third largest bauxite ore producing country in Asia after several countries in Southeast Asia.,
Chinas primary production of sintered bauxite is mainly done by mining and processing in factories. The beneficiation process should firstly be based on the characteristics of bauxite ores, including particle size, composition, total iron content, etc., through crushing and grinding, classification, desliming and wet or dry magnetic separation of high-quality raw materials.,
The bauxite ore is generally broken by passing through a jaw crusher, which is then pulverized by passing through a roll crusher or ball mill. The high-grade bauxite ore is then mixed with caustic soda and passed into a kiln for calcination. After repeated calcination, the aluminum hydroxide in the bauxite ore is converted into a binary-hydroxide, and the resulting bauxite ore is referred to as sintered bauxite.,
Also, in order to improve the grade of the bauxite ore, various beneficiation processes such as high-intensity magnetic separation, gravity separation, flotation and reverse flotation are usually used. These beneficiation processes are applied according to the nature of the bauxite ore, ensuring a high purity for the final sintered bauxite ore. The bauxite ore is then ready for sintering, when it is mixed with fluxes (normally calcium oxide, magnesium oxide and other materials), pressed into pieces and sintered in industrial-size kilns.,
The sintered bauxite ore has good properties such as high hardness, strong wear resistance and good chemical stability. It is widely used in various fields such as refractory materials, oil fracturing, friction lining material and pavement base material. High-grade sintered bauxite ore can also be used as a raw material for the calcined alumina used for the electrolytic aluminum smelting and alumina production. Therefore, it is an important raw material for China’s aluminum industry.,
China’s sintered bauxite ore production and consumption have increased in recent years. In the past few years, more foreign enterprises have gradually invested in the domestic sintered bauxite ore market. It is predicted that the sintered bauxite ore industry will continue to experience a boom in development in the next few years.
