Where did the red mud in Hungary come from?
The sludge is a by-product from the early stage of aluminium production, which leaked from storage reservoirs. As part of the process, bauxite, the raw material, is taken out of the ground and washed with sodium hydroxide.
What caused the toxic mini tsunami and the spread of toxic sludge in Hungary?
PRAGUE — The Hungarian government declared a state of emergency in several towns on Tuesday, a day after a reservoir at an alumina refining plant in Ajka burst its banks, unleashing a flood of caustic red sludge that killed at least four people and injured more than 120, government officials said.
What happened in Hungary in October 2010?
On October 4, 2010, an accident occurred at the Ajkai Timföldgyár alumina (aluminum oxide) plant in western Hungary. A corner wall of a waste-retaining pond broke, releasing a torrent of toxic red sludge down a local stream.
What is the rupture of a sludge reservoir in Hungary on October 4 2010 called?
Ajka alumina plant accident
| Ajka alumina plant accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 4 October 2010 |
| Cause | |
| Cause | Inconclusive |
| Casualties | 10 deaths, 406 injured (120 seriously) |
What is in red mud?
Red mud is composed of minerals such as hematite, gibbsite, calcite, quartz, goethite, diaspore, rutile, kaolinite, etc. (Wang and Liu, 2012) measured by using X-ray diffractometer. The specific gravity of red mud is 2.77 gcm−3 measured by gas picnometer.
How toxic is red mud?
A waste by product of the Bayer process for producing al oxide from the bauxite ore, red mud contains toxic heavy metals and its high alkalinity makes it extremely corrosive and damaging to soil and life forms, presenting a massive problem for disposal.
Where is the country Hungary?
central Europe
Roughly the size of the state of Indiana, Hungary is a landlocked country in central Europe bordered by Slovakia and Austria to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Slovenia to the west, and Croatia and Serbia to the south.
Why is red mud bad?
Global annual production of red mud (bauxite residue) is about 150 million tonnes. It contains raw materials for the production of iron, silicon and aluminium, and is dumped as waste in spite of the availability of recycling technologiesbauxite residu.
How is red mud removed?
Red mud, also known as bauxite residue, is an industrial waste generated during the refinement of bauxite into alumina using the Bayer process. left after bauxite dissolves in NaOH forming sodium aluminate and is removed by filtration.
What is red mud and how is it removed?
Where did the Red toxic sludge in Hungary come from?
Red toxic mud from the sludge reservoir of the Ajka aluminium works flooded Devecser and other towns and villages in Hungary, killing 10 people and inuring many more on 5 October 2010. Photograph: Tomas Benedikovic/isifa/Getty Images
How tall was the dam in Devecser, Hungary?
“There is no dam,” he told one caller. There was a dam – six metre-high, a couple of miles away, that held back a reservoir of deadly “red mud”, a caustic byproduct of aluminium extraction. But it had burst, and a million cubic metres of the slime was rushing toward Devecser, with waves of up to two metres.
Who was mayor of Devecser Hungary in 2010?
Toldi Tamás was nursing a hangover when a wave of toxic sludge hit his family home. The night before he had won an election to become Devecser’s third mayor since the fall of communism in Hungary. Champagne had flowed. But just hours later, on 4 October 2010, his phone was buzzing with messages from frightened locals.
Why is there red sludge in the Danube River?
The BBC reported that authorities were pouring plaster into the Marcal River in hopes of preventing the sludge from reaching the Danube River. The red sludge is a byproduct of refining bauxite into alumina, which is used in the manufacture of aluminum and other products.