Development of new polyacrylate flocculants for red mud clarification

Conventional polyacrylate flocculants have been widely used to settle red mud in the Bayer process over the past two decades. A new manufacturing process has led to the development of higher molecular weight polyacrylate flocculants that outperform existing polyacrylate flocculants by 20% or more. Implementation of the new polyacrylate flocculant technology has allowed plants to reduce overall consumption of flocculant. Laboratory test results and plant applications of these new flocculants at several refineries are summarized in this paper. Additional benefits of these new flocculants are currently under investigation.