An on-line database developed by a Parker Centre/CSIRO Light Metals Flagship research team has for the first time provided the alumina industry with a one-stop, searchable resource containing all public information on bauxite residues, including their characteristics and storage, and details of the original bauxite.

The Bauxite Residue and Disposal Database (BRaDD) was developed as part of an Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development & Climate project funded by the Australian Government. The project focuses on developing economically viable and environmentally acceptable solutions to the large global volumes of bauxite residue.

“The level and types of residue-related information in the database, and the ability to readily interrogate it, make BRaDD an invaluable research and planning tool for anyone with an interest in bauxite residue and its impact on the environment or its potential uses,” says Project Leader Dr Craig Klauber.

BRaDD includes verifiable, up-to-date profiles of most bauxite-processing alumina refineries known to the team: 90 refineries spread across six continents. “BRaDD provides the first ever worldwide picture across time of the refinery practices, technologies, engineering and science behind bauxite residue management, disposal and storage,” says Project Leader Dr Craig Klauber.

“Thanks to BRaDD, we now know that worldwide inventory of bauxite residue had reached 2.0 billion tonnes in 2000, and will hit 4.0 billion tonnes around 2015 at its current growth rate of about 120 million tonnes per annum,” noted Dr Klauber. “We know where the residue is located and in many cases we also know the nature and volume of the residue in each location. This is critical information when researching options for residue utilisation because options will only succeed if a local need can be met with a local source.”

The database enables comparisons between refineries in a way not previously possible. “Alumina companies can use BRaDD to benchmark one refinery against multiple other refineries over a considerable period of time,” says Dr Klauber.
 
The team is currently seeking relevant, citable company information to add to BRaDD’s public domain component to ensure that this free-of-charge database reaches its full potential as the world’s only comprehensive bauxite residue resource of use.

For more information, visit http://cms.csiro.au/products/Bauxite-residue-database.html.