Author(s)

Mamadou Yaya Balde^1,2, Chantale Njiomou Djangang^1*, Ramatoulaye Binta Diallo², Philippe Blanchart³, Daniel Njopwouo¹

¹Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon.
²Department of Chemistry, University Gamal Abdel Nasser of Conakry, Conakry, Guinea.
³Institute of Research for Ceramics—IRCER, Limoges, France.

Assessing the potential uses as industrial mineral, bauxite from Débélé, Guinea, has been characterised by chemical and mineralogical analyses, the determination of the amorphous content, the rate of portlandite consumption in an aqueous solution, the strength activity index, and the thermal behaviour up to 1200°C. It was evidenced that the raw sample is gibbsite-rich type bauxite with about 45.06 wt% of alumina, 23.80 wt% of iron oxide, and 1.74 wt% of silica. It meets the chemical composition required for bauxites used for refractory cement. During heating, the raw bauxite undergoes high densification with low linear shrinkage, motivating a potential use in dense ceramic compositions with high thermal stability. Also, the heating at only 600°C gives a significant pozzolanic activity in combination with Portland cement. The correlation between the pozzolanicity, the amorphous phase content, and the specific surface area indicated that the raw and the calcined materials present an interesting reactivity for using them in alternative cement formulations.

Bauxite, Characteristics, Industrial Mineral, Guinea

Balde, M. , Djangang, C. , Diallo, R. , Blanchart, P. and Njopwouo, D. (2021) Physicochemical Characterisation for Potential Uses as Industrial Mineral of Bauxite from Débélé, Guinea. Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 9, 9-22. doi: 10.4236/msce.2021.93002.