Overview

Bauxite residue has been produced since the development of the alumina/aluminium industry in the late nineteenth century. It is one of the largest industrial mine wastes in modern society with global levels estimated at over 3 billion tonnes. Developing and implementing effective storage, remediation and utilisation programmes remains essential as the inventory grows by approximately 120 million tonnes per annum.

This seminar presents two experts, each having more than 10 years of research and development experience in the remediation/reuse of bauxite residue for products. They will provide an overview of their research and industry engagement.

Speakers

Professor Longbin Huang, University of Queensland

Professor Longbin Huang leads a research program on “Ecological Engineering of Mine Wastes” for rehabilitating sustainable Soil-Plant Systems at the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute. For tackling global tailings challenges, Longbin has pioneered transformative concepts and novel approaches to tackle rehabilitation of mine wastes (eg tailings), by treating mine wastes as engineered parent materials rather than wastes. His achievement is highlighted by the invention of “Bauxite Residue Treatment” technology (https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-021-00429-4) for in situ dealkalisation and soil formation to rehabilitate sustainable soil-plant systems without topsoil, which is one of the leading cases in the Sustainable Bauxite Residue Management Guidance (released by International Aluminium Institute, in April 2022).

Associate Professor Sara Couperthwaite, Queensland University of Technology

Associate Professor Sara Couperthwaite is a researcher at the School of Mechanical, Medical & Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology. Her work focuses on the advancement of sustainable technologies, with an emphasis on recycling wastewater and waste residues produced by industry for the development of new materials and the optimisation of plant operations. Sara has a strong background in the treatment of industrial waste residues, development of adsorption media from industrial wastes and characterisation of materials.

The material presented in this talk has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenters' own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Queensland Member Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.