The Government of India is taking a significant step towards using Rare Earth Elements (REE) by establishing a cutting-edge pilot plant. This facility will process 100 kg of red mud, a hazardous waste generated from the alumina refining process, and extract REE from it. It's worth noting that red mud poses significant environmental and health hazards. The plant is scheduled to become operational by December 2024.
This initiative involves collaboration with renowned institutions such as the Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Design and Development Centre (JNARDDC) in Nagpur, the CSIR Institute of Metal and Materials Technology (CSIR-IMMT) in Bhubaneswar, the CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (CSIR-NML) in Jamshedpur, and the National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO). Together, they will work on processing the 100 kg of red mud within the plant, allowing them to fine-tune and optimize the extraction of REE from this waste material.
In this context, JNARDDC is the sole institution in India to have developed a technology capable of extracting REE from red mud and repurposing red mud for various commercial applications.
Dr Anupam Agnihotri, Director, JNARDDC, said, “About 35 to 40 per cent of the processed bauxite ore goes into the waste in the form of red mud. The aluminium industry in India produces 5 million tonnes of red mud annually. 10 kg red mud contains about 0.5-0.8 per cent of REE, which scientific processes can recover.”
According to Dr. Agnihotri, the upcoming pilot plant will allow them to process ten times as much red mud as they currently do.
"We are currently processing 10 kg of red mud in our lab to extract REE. The plant will allow us to process 100 kg of red mud. With this, we can extract more rare earth elements,"
"We are reusing just 1 per cent of red mud. The remaining 99 per cent is dumped as waste. Under the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' mission (self-reliant India), the R&D institutions will work together to extract REE from this waste to reduce our dependence on Chinese imports."
"Scandium is one of the strategic elements in the group of rare earth elements, which is utilised in space and defence technologies in large numbers. India produces 10 million tonnes of red mud per annum, in which we can extract about 4,000 tonnes of Scandium per annum."
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