Takeaway: Treasure from waste

This red mud, the leftovers from aluminium production, is more than just waste.

It contains iron, titanium, silicon, and rare earth metals such as scandium.

This aluminium plant in Greece produces 2 thousand tons of red mud, or bauxite residue, every day.

With current technologies, extraction of metals from red mud is not economically viable

But new methods are being developed.

This pilot plant uses ionic liquid to extract rare earth elements from red mud.

Research like this can turn today’s waste into tomorrow’s treasure!