Indonesia is one of the important producers of alumina in Southeast Asia. With the continuous expansion of alumina refining capacity, alumina plants are facing increasing challenges in solid–liquid separation efficiency, red mud settling performance, and overall operating stability.

An alumina refinery in Indonesia was seeking a more efficient flocculant solution for its clarification and mud settling process. The existing flocculant system showed unstable performance, high dosage consumption, and insufficient settling and overflow clarity, which affected production efficiency and operating costs.

Challenges Faced

During on-site communication and technical evaluation, the customer mainly encountered the following issues:

Slow settling rate of red mud, limiting the throughput of thickeners

Poor overflow clarity, causing higher suspended solids in the clarified liquor

High flocculant consumption, resulting in increased chemical costs

Unstable floc formation, sensitive to changes in slurry concentration and operating conditions

The customer required a flocculant with strong adaptability to high-alkalinity alumina slurry and stable performance under continuous operation.

Hengfeng Solution

Based on the customer’s process conditions and slurry characteristics, Jiangsu Hengfeng Fine Chemical Co., Ltd. recommended a polyacrylamide emulsion specially designed for alumina (aluminum oxide) applications.

Key features of Hengfeng’s alumina-grade PAM emulsion include:

Optimized molecular structure for high-alkalinity alumina systems

Rapid dissolution and activation, suitable for on-site continuous dosing

Strong flocculation ability to promote fast red mud settling

Formation of large, dense, and stable flocs, improving solid–liquid separation

Our technical team provided dosage guidance, preparation instructions, and on-site optimization support during the trial phase.

Implementation Process

The product was tested in the clarification and thickening stage of the alumina production process. After adjusting the dilution ratio and dosing point, the system quickly reached stable operation.

Trial parameters were optimized step by step based on:

Settling rate observation

Overflow turbidity

Mud bed stability

Chemical consumption comparison

Results and Achievements

After using Hengfeng’s polyacrylamide emulsion, the alumina plant achieved significant improvements:

Settling rate increased noticeably, allowing higher thickener efficiency

Overflow clarity improved, with reduced suspended solids

Flocculant dosage reduced, lowering overall chemical costs

More stable operation, less sensitivity to process fluctuations

The customer reported that the product performance was consistent and reliable, meeting the requirements of long-term continuous operation.

Customer Feedback

The alumina plant expressed high satisfaction with both the product performance and Hengfeng’s technical support. Based on the successful trial results, the customer moved forward with regular use of Hengfeng’s alumina-specific polyacrylamide emulsion.