Mineral processing presents challenges when it comes to managing waste streams. The production of hard-to-treat waste, such as sodium oxalate generated during alumina production via the Bayer process, poses environmental and health risks. Storing this waste alongside red mud in lined pits is a widespread practice, but it is not sustainable in the long term.
SCFI has taken a significant step forward by developing a groundbreaking technology: AquaCritox® AlOH. This innovative approach decomposes sodium oxalate into simpler compounds: sodium carbonate and carbon monoxide. Not only does this simplify waste treatment, but it also reduces the environmental impact.
Alumina is not the only mineral SCFI have contributed toward; another is phosphorus. This essential mineral is the second most abundant mineral in the human body. Phosphorus is produced from processing phosphate rock, but did you know that sewage sludge contains a large amounts of phosphorus? Once processed through the Aquacritox SCWO process, the organic components of the sewage sludge are destroyed, converted mainly to water and CO2, leaving behind clean water and a clean inert ash material that contains phosphorous.
Please see our technologies and case studies below for more information, and don’t hesitate to contact us.
