China's Shenhua to produce alumina from coal ash: Xinhua - Metals | Platts News Article & Story
Unlike the United States of America, the Peoples Republic of China does have some industrially-useful natural deposits of Aluminum ore.
Still, while we, in the US, have to import all of our virgin Aluminum ore, China has to import at least some of hers, presumably from the world's leading owners of Aluminum deposits: Guinea, Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
As strategically important as a secure supply of Aluminum would seem to be, you would think that some forward-thinking American leader would - - cognizant of some facts we've presented, for instance, in:
West Virginia Coal Association | Iowa Mines Metals from Coal Ash for the USDOE | Research & Development; concerning, in part: "United States Patent 4,397,822 - Process for the Recovery of Alumina from Fly Ash; 1983; Government Interests: The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. W-7405-ENG-82 between the U.S. Department of Energy and Ames Laboratory; Abstract: An improvement in the lime-sinter process for recovering alumina from pulverized coal fly ash is disclosed"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Says Coal Ash Could End Aluminum Ore Imports | Research & Development; concerning: "Economic Metal Recovery from Fly Ash; 1981; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USDOE; TN; Although most coal combustion ash produced in the United States is discarded as a waste, results are presented to show that fly ash can be an economical source of Al2O3, Fe2/O3, and possibly several other metals, many of which are presently being imported";
- - somehow initiate a program to start mining and recovering Aluminum from Coal Ash.
China, who, as we've documented for you a number of times, as, for instance, in:
West Virginia Coal Association | WVU and China Coal to $24 per Barrel Oil | Research & Development;
has a somewhat more enlightened knowledge and view of Coal's vast potentials; which enlightenment concerning Coal, as can be learned in:
West Virginia Coal Association | Obama White House Says China Coal-to-Liquids = US Jobs | Research & Development;
is resulting in some, at least indirect, benefit to the owner of most abundant Coal reserves in the world, has also recognized the potentials for mining strategic metals, such as Aluminum, from Coal Ash; and, has started doing something about it.
As seen in excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch:
"China's Shenua to Produce Alumina from Coal Ash
December 19, 2011
China's Shenhua Group began construction Sunday of a coal ash-based alumina refinery in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Shenhua plans to invest Yuan 135.8 billion ($21.4 billion) in the project, deputy manager Ling Wen is quoted as having said. Located in the Jungar coal mining area in Ordos city, the project will include a 6.6 GW power plant, an alumina plant and a gallium plant.
(Concerning the above "gallium", itself an uncommon metal of some strategic importance, see our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Coal Ash a Superior Source of High-Tech Metal | Research & Development; concerning, in part: "United States Patent 4,643,110 - The Recovery of Gallium and Germanium from Coal Fly Ash; 1987; Assignee: Enron, Inc., Houston, TX"; and: "United States Patent 4,678,647 - Recovery of Gallium and Germanium from Coal Fly Ash; 1987; Assignee: Enron, Inc., Houston, TX; Abstract: A method is disclosed for recovering gallium and/or germanium from fly ash".)
All of the plants will use materials recycled from coal burning.
At an aluminium conference in (China) earlier this month, (it was stated that) "fly ash ... will probably become the important alternative resource for alumina production in China".
(It was further reported that) China's 'severe shortage' of quality bauxite has made it necessary to develop alternative raw materials for alumina, and that the government was supporting research on the development of process technology for the production of alumina from fly ash (and, that) there were about 100 patents in China on extracting alumina from fly ash (and, that) an experimental program was under way for making alumina from fly ash through an acid leaching process.
(An official) said China already had a 300,000 mt/year fly ash-based alumina refinery, and two more were on the way with capacities of 400,000 mt/year and 1 million mt/year, without mentioning their locations and other details.
Shenhua (has) estimated that Ordos, which is home to one-sixth of China's coal reserves, has the resources to produce 3 billion mt of alumina.
Fly ash is a product of burning finely ground coal in a boiler to produce electricity. It is removed from the plant exhaust gases primarily by electrostatic precipitators, or baghouses and secondarily by scrubber systems. Physically, fly ash is a fine, powdery material, composed mostly of silica, and has a consistency similar to talcum powder.
Fly ash is commonly used in cement, concrete products and grout, road bases, asphalt, waste stabilization and/or solidification, soil modification and/or stabilization.
China is heavily dependent on bauxite from Indonesia which has said it plans to restrict exports from 2014."
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Concerning the above mention of the many other uses of Coal Ash, see our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | More Coal Fly Ash Facts for Highway Engineers | Research & Development; concerning, primarily, the US Government-sponsored: "Fly Ash Facts for Highway Engineers; Federal Highway Administration Report Number: FHWA-IF-03-019; June 13, 2003";
which enumerates and describes them in a bit more detail.
And, as far as China's plans to extract Aluminum from Coal Ash, just as, as seen in:
West Virginia Coal Association | China Awarded 2010 US Liquefaction Patent | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,763,167 - Process for Direct Coal Liquefaction; July, 2010; Assignee: Shenua Coal Liquefaction Corporation, Beijing; Abstract: Process for direct coal liquefaction of coal, including: ... fractionating hydrogenation products into oil products";
they are also converting Coal into synthetic petroleum, it seems that they are taking the lead in maximizing the immense value of a natural resource, Coal, that we, here, in West Virginia, and in the rest of US Coal Country, haven't yet, in one sense, even begun, really, to scratch the surface of; no matter how deep it is we're actually sinking the shafts of our mines.
