DOUBLE DIGESTION PROCESS: AN ENERGY EFFICIENT
OPTION FOR TREATING BOEHMITIC BAUXITES
Kumar S1*, Hogan B2, Leredde J-P3, Laurier J1 and Forte G4
Bauxite & Alumina Technology, Rio Tinto Alcan, Montreal, QC, Canada
1
Bauxite & Alumina Technology, Rio Tinto Alcan, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
2
3
Bauxite & Alumina Technology, Rio Tinto Alcan, Gardanne, Provence, France
4
Bauxite & Alumina ARDC, Rio Tinto Alcan, Jonquière, QC, Canada
Abstract
With depleting gibbsitic or tri-hydrate bauxite reserves and the recent step increase in energy costs, alumina plant
operators are looking for ways to process boehmitic or mono-hydrate bauxites that require higher digestion temperatures
while keeping the energy costs low. The Double digestion (DD) process, as developed by Alcan provides an economic
alternative to standard high temperature digestion process, normally used for treating boehmitic bauxites in Greenfield
and Brownfield installations.
The DD process, involves extraction of gibbsite and boehmite in two distinct steps from the bauxite feed at different
optimum temperatures with a pressure decanter as a link between the two digestion stages. Pressure decantation is
designed to separate the unflashed mud residue containing unextracted boehmite after gibbsitic digestion, and provides
feed to high temperature digestion. Depending on the boehmite content in the bauxite feedstock and the equipment layout
in a brownfield installation, different flowsheets of DD process are available. The present paper will review some of these
flowsheets and their possible application to different bauxite feed and plant equipment layout scenarios.
1. Introduction to reduce specific energy as well as raw material consumptions
for alumina production. The present paper deals with a concept
Historically bauxite, the main raw material for the commercial
known as “Double Digestion” for processing boehmitic bauxite
scale production of aluminium oxide (alumina) has been
using single/mixed/two-stream digestion systems to produce
categorized as gibbsitic or tri-hydrate (γAl2O3.3H2O), boehmitic
alumina at higher liquor productivity and lower energy, bauxite
or mono-hydrate (γAl2O3.H2O) and diasporic or another form of
and caustic specific consumption as compared to conventional
mono-hydrate (αAl2O3.H2O). Varying rates of dissolution from
single high temperature digestion (HTD) process.
bauxite and levels of solubility of these three species of alumina
in caustic have resulted in three formats of alumina digestion 2. Double Digestion Overview
processes i.e. low to medium temperature (105-175oC) for
Double digestion (DD) process consists of extracting gibbsite
gibbsite, high temperature (220-260oC) for boehmite and very-
and boehmite in two distinct digestion steps where each step is
high temperature (265-280oC) for diasporic bauxites.
designed to provide optimum conditions for extraction of each of
Normally, specific energy consumption increases with increase the alumina species. This in turn results in more efficient plant
in operating digestion temperature due to inability to recover operations with respect to specific energy, bauxite and caustic
all the heat energy from digester discharge slurry. Operation of consumption.
digestion at higher temperature also has an adverse impact on
For a given bauxite containing a mixture of gibbsite and boehmite,
steam/power balance in a refinery equipped with a co-generating
digestion at low temperature is carried out to extract gibbsite at
station.
relatively high alumina to caustic ratio (A/C). Unflashed digestion
Traditional digestion, a two-stream process, was designed to slurry, exiting the low temperature digestion (LTD) is processed
mix separately heated ground bauxite slurry with caustic liquor to separate the solid phase containing unextracted boehmite,
streams in digester vessels to extract alumina at a target and the liquid phase containing dissolved gibbsite with a small
digestion temperature that was achieved with the help of live amount of suspended mud solids is sent to security filtration.
steam in a direct or indirect manner. In more recent installations, The solid phase is mixed with hot digestion liquor and digested
single-stream version of digestion was designed where bauxite at higher temperature to extract boehmite. The discharge slurry
slurry and caustic liquor streams are mixed together and heated from high temperature digestion (HTD) is further processed to
as a single-stream prior to entering the digestion vessels. separate the mud residue and liquor having a lower A/C ratio.
While the liquor is either sent forward to security filtration or
Despite the challenge to maintain the heat transfer equipment recycled as feed to LTD, the residue is washed in a counter-
in good shape, the heat recovery across the digestion section is current manner and disposed at a captive storage site.
much better with a single-stream process than with two-stream
process and results in lower specific energy consumption. For The first full plant scale conversion of a single-stream high
a given digestion liquor caustic concentration, a single-stream temperature digestion process to a single-stream DD process
process also results in lower free caustic concentration than a was implemented at the Gardanne, France plant of Rio Tinto
two-stream process. This allows operating at higher caustics, Alcan (then Pechiney) in 1998 with the objective to increase the
and hence higher digestion productivity without the use of nominal production capacity and reduce specific raw material
exotic materials of construction for high-temperature end heat- consumption. The plant was retrofitted with DD process by using
exchange equipment. a conventional decanter for solid liquid separation after LTD.
Operation of a conventional decanter at atmospheric pressure
In view of the recent step increase in the cost of energy generated necessitates cooling of LT digestion discharge slurry by flashing
from fossil fuels, alumina operators are looking at ways and means to atmospheric conditions prior to solid/liquid separation step.
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AQW2008_Proceedings_FINAL-1-120.44 44 4/08/2008 [Link] AM
A mixture of decanter underflow slurry and digestion liquor is • Moving of the central feedwell to an off-centre location;
re-heated for extracting boehmite at HTD conditions. Following • Installation of an on-line liquor clarity probe;
the conversion to DD, the plant capacity could be increased by • Installation of an underflow transfer and recirculation pumps
~15% with ~9% reduction in specific energy and 0.8% increase of the same capacity.
in extractable alumina efficiency across digestion.
4. Versions of a Double Digestion Flowsheet
In order to achieve more efficient solid/liquid separation after
Three variations of a DD flowsheet have been proposed to provide
LTD, Rio Tinto Alcan (previously known as Alcan) developed an optimum solution for a given plant situation depending on:
the concept of a “Pressure Decanter” (1) (PD) that enables the
separation of residual solids from LTD discharge slurry at its • Bauxite quality with respect to ratio of gibbsite and boehmite
temperature without flashing, and hence results in: present;
• Whether it is a retrofit of existing LTD or HTD installation or a
• Achieving very high settling rates (25 – 35m/h) for residue Greenfield installation.
due to handling of unflashed solids at lower liquor viscosity;
• An underflow that has paste like rheology due to high solid All the three flowsheets have been installed in three different
concentration; refineries indicating a flexibility of the concept to suit the specific
• Generation of overflow with clarities similar to those achieved needs of a plant and these are described below.
with High Rate Decanters (settlers);
• Higher overall alumina recovery due to lower amount of 4.1 Parallel Double Digestion Flowsheet (Figure 2)
alumina re-precipitating (boehmite reversion) following the In this version, the overflow from a PD installed immediately
separation of boehmite containing solids from the digestion after the LTD is flashed in multi-stages while the PD underflow is
slurry at higher temperatures; processed in HTD for boehmite extraction. The cooled slurry from
• Avoids the need to re-heat the solid phase of LTD discharge HTD is processed in a clarification stage and its overflow and the
slurry after liquid/solid separation from atmospheric to LTD cooled PD overflow from LTD are fed together to security filtration
temperature. prior to going to the precipitation area.
3. Salient Features of a Pressure Decanter Salient Features of this flowsheet are:
A full scale pressure decanter has the following salient features • High boehmitic digestion temperature >240oC;
(Figure 1): • Potential to increase flow across LTD flash stages in
brownfield retrofitting;
• A cylindrical pressure vessel having a conical bottom and
• Minimal chances of boehmite reversion/gibbsite
equipped with a rake and dewatering rods in the cone to
retrogradation;
facilitate removal of settled residue having high solid
• Allows separate treatment of HT digestion slurry;
concentration;
• Reduced volumetric feed rate to the settlers;
• Feed system consisting of a feed-pipe and a feedwell;
• Applicable to bauxites containing medium to high amount
• Overflow system connected to a flash cooling system;
(>5%) of boehmite.
• Underflow system with dedicated transfer and re-circulation
pumps;
• Synthetic flocculent addition system in the feedline and the PD FLASH
BAUXITE LTD
feedwell;
• Appropriate instrumentation for automatic addition of
flocculent and online measurement of overflow turbidity,
underflow solids, mud inventory and rake torque. HTD
SETTLER TO FILTERS
MUD WASH CIRCUIT
DIGESTION LIQUOR
Figure 2. Parallel Double Digestion Flowsheet
4.2 Cross–Flow Double Digestion Flowsheet (Figure 3)
In this version, the overflow from a PD installed after LTD joins
with digestion slurry from HTD at an appropriate flash stage and
the combined stream is fed to a clarifier for residue and turbid
liquor separation. Consequently the flash system for HTD is
designed to handle the total digestion slurry from LTD and HTD
at the low pressure end of the flash train.
Salient Features of this version of flowsheet are described
Figure 1. Pressure Decanter below:
The first plant scale application of a DD process with PD as a link • High boehmitic digestion temperature >240oC;
between LTD and HTD was implemented in 2001 at Gramercy • PD overflow clarity is not critical;
plant in USA. Based on the experience shared and reported by • HTD flash train designed to handle the combined digestion
Gramercy plant, (2, 3) some improvement in the design of PD has discharge slurry;
been carried out and will be tested in new full scale applications • LTD flash stage becomes redundant;
of this equipment during the current year. These improvements • Possibility of boehmite reversion across the HTD flash train;
refer to the following: • Slurry flow to clarifiers unchanged with reduced
retrogradation losses;
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• Applicable to bauxites containing medium to high amount The parallel DD flowsheet was selected for a refinery that has been
(>5%) of boehmite. operating a LTD circuit so far. With depletion of gibbsitic bauxite
in the existing mining lease, the remaining bauxite reserves show
an increasing trend of boehmite content in the bauxite with future
BAUXITE LTD bauxite having an average of 11-13% boehmite in the feed to the
PD
refinery. This would have led to already deteriorating operating
efficiency parameters like liquor productivity, overall alumina
extraction and caustic consumption in an adverse manner. In
HTD FLASH selecting the parallel DD flowsheet, the existing flash train and
HRD TO FILTERS heat-exchangers of LTD unit are being partially used while the
capacity of the refinery is being increased four-fold.
A Cross Flow DD flowsheet was used for a refinery that was
operating a single-stage conventional HTD, but needed to reduce
energy consumption and bauxite consumption through improved
MUD WASH CIRCUIT
DIGESTION LIQUOR alumina extraction. The flash tank train for overflow from PD
installed after the LTD was merged with the low-pressure end of a
Figure 3. Cross–Flow Double Digestion Flowsheet new flash train for HTD to reduce capital cost. The plant has been
operating since 2001 with DD and reported a ~20% reduction in
4.3 Counter-current Double Digestion Flowsheet (Figure 4)
energy and ~4% increase in digestion extraction efficiency. (2)
This flowsheet version consists of separate PDs installed after
the LTD and in the HTD flash train. While the overflow from a In one of the refineries of Rio Tinto Alcan processing gibbsitic
PD installed after appropriate HTD flash stage is mixed with bauxite with a LTD system, a decision to install a counter-current
fresh digestion liquor to extract gibbsite in LTD, the PD underflow DD flowsheet was made due to an increase in boehmite from
containing residue is washed across the mud circuit for caustic ~1.5% to ~3% with a possibility of ~100% reversion across the
recovery and ultimate disposal. Another PD installed after the LTD. This was seen to be a cause for lower alumina extraction
LTD separates solids in the underflow containing boehmite for leading to higher bauxite consumption, which in turn was to
processing in the HTD and the overflow for cooling across the LTD increase the caustic consumption and the mud factor requiring
flash train prior to feeding the security filtration area. a larger residue disposal facility. A drop in liquor productivity and
a higher scaling rate of equipment in digestion and mud wash
Following are the salient features of this flowsheet: circuit was also envisaged if the boehmite was not extracted.
• Lower (~210oC) HTD temperature coupled with reduced In view of a low boehmite and high silica in the bauxite, a
adverse impact of quartz and titania dissolution; counter-current flowsheet with HTD operating at a relatively low
• Minimal chances of boehmite reversion/retrogradation temperature of ~220oC was selected. A saving of ~9% in bauxite,
losses; ~10% in caustic and ~30% reduction in mud factor is envisaged
• Primary clarifiers (settlers) are made redundant; following introduction of this DD process to the existing LTD
• Most energy efficient (steam/power balance); operation.
• Applicable to bauxites containing relatively low amount
(~5%) of boehmite; 6. Conclusions
• Maximize pregnant liquor A/C ratio and precipitation From the above discussions, it can be concluded that full scale
productivity. implementation of three versions of the DD process in different
plants demonstrate the capability of this concept to efficiently
PD/ FLASH TO FILTERS process boehmitic bauxites in order to lower operating and
BAUXITE LTD HRD capital costs.
145oC
PD
HTD o
145 C
o
220 C
MUD WASH CIRCUIT
DIGESTION LIQUOR
Figure 4. Counter-current Double Digestion Flowsheet
5. Discussion
The three variations of DD flowsheets provide a flexibility to adapt
to a given bauxite quality with respect to boehmite and silica
content, the steam/power balance situation and equipment
layout of a plant for a brownfield retrofitting.
References
1. Lida, F., Stewart, F., Puxley, D., “Pressure Decanter”, US Patent 5407561, priority date May 1993.
2. Landry, P., Edwards, H., “Pressure Decantation at Gramercy Alumina”, Light Metals 2006, pp.
3. Doucet, J., Hendricks, C., “Pressure Decantation Technology: The Kaiser Gramercy Experience”, AQW 2005, pp. 94 – 99.
4. Lamerant, J.M., Perret, Y., “Beohmitic reversion in a Double Digestion Process on a bauxite containing trihydrate and monohydrate”, Light Metals
2002, pp. 181-184.
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