Originally positioned to become a smelter-grade and high-purity alumina products producer, Canadian technology development company Orbite Aluminae aims to focus on its waste monetisation initiative in 2015, says company CEO Glen Kelly.

“Orbite’s goal for this year is to finalise its $105-million high-purity alumina (HPA) facility in Cap-Chat, Quebec. Our next step is to use the facility as the stepping stone for our waste monetisation strategy. In addition to producing HPA, the facility will be used as an industrial- scale technology demonstration facility for the scale-up of our technology to process feedstocks, such as industrial waste and aluminous clay,” he says.

Using Orbite’s patented process, this initiative will involve value extraction from sources such as fly ash, a by-product of coal-fired power plants; red mud, a hazardous waste by-product of traditional alumina production; and mine tailings, says Kelly.

The Orbite process includes feedstock preparation, such as crushing and acid-leaching. When applied to the production of smelter-grade alumina, the feedstock can be aluminous clay, found at the com- pany’s concession at Grande-Vallée, in Quebec, after which the alumina component is selectively isolated and iron and impurities removed using various temperatures and pH levels.

The company also extracts the unleachable solids, such as the silica and titanium, which are separated through an additional separation process.

Meanwhile, each of the other constituents solubilised in the acid, such as alumina, magnesium oxides and rare earths, as well as rare metals – such as gallium and scandium – can be selectively extracted through manipulation of parameters such as pH and temperature. Finally, 99.75% acid regeneration improves process economics.

Kelly tells Mining Weekly that the company’s monetisation strategy is step two in its commercialisation strategy. “By focusing on completing our HPA facility, we intend transitioning from being only a technology development company into a company that generates revenue through the sale of high-purity alumina. This enables us to operate this technology at an industrial scale and use the facility for the technical realisation of our other initiatives, such as waste monetisation.”

Subsequent work on Orbite’s facility will include converting it into using the company’s chloride process, as well as adding a scandium and gallium recovery circuit, with work on both to be initiated in 2015.

Subsequent optimisation and expansion will recover other speciality products such as rare earths.

Kelly adds that, once converted to the chloride process, Orbite’s proprietary technology can produce HPA, smelter-grade aluminium and other valuables from a wide variety of feedstocks, including aluminous clay, bauxite, fly ash and hazardous red mud without leaving waste.

This technology is drawing interest from companies worldwide, as it can help mitigate the environmental impact of existing operations or remediate old dumps. Most importantly though, the company believes that, by extracting all value from waste sources, it can make this a profitable activity, which has greatly increased interest in the company’s technology, Kelly says.

“The critical selling point for Orbite is that, by applying its technology, waste becomes an asset used as feedstock to produce value-added products, such as rare earths, rare metals and alumina,” Kelly told Mining Weekly in March.

He points out that about three-billion tonnes of red mud is currently stored worldwide, with between 100-million and 120-million tonnes produced yearly. Kelly adds that the aluminium industry spends about $100-million a year to manage red mud by placing it behind dykes or in red-mud ponds.

In addition, about 550-million tonnes of fly ash, which is considered an environmental liability, is produced every year, with about 40% reused in concrete road construction, while 60% is stored behind dykes.

“Orbite can extract about 90% of the value in red mud and fly ash, with 10% remaining as inert residue, as not all the elements in a feedstock have a high value. Therefore, the Orbite process is the only known process in the industry that can extract all the value, which makes the process economical,” Kelly emphasises.

He further maintains that the process could supplant the Bayer process to produce smelter-grade alumina. “We are looking at applying our technology to other mineral feedstocks to. . . replace historical approaches with a more sustainable processing approach such as ours.”

Kelly tells Mining Weekly that, while other companies have conducted selective extraction processes on other mineral feedstocks, only a few elements could be extracted. He adds that the lack of economic viability hindered the application of these processes to other commodities, with the environmental liability of red mud yet to be resolved.

Additionally, Kelly notes that the Orbite process can be applied to waste piles from older asbestos mines to extract high-value portions of magnesium. Orbite has tested the process on the feedstock, with positive results indicating that the magnesium can be extracted and separated.

Following conversion of its HPA facility, Orbite plans to design its first industrial prototype plant, the work for which will commence in 2015, with plant construction expected to start in 2016.

Meanwhile, in line with the company’s business strategy, Orbite Aluminae will officially change its name to Orbite Technologies this month.