Red Mud/Blue Mud: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Flow Battery

A garage inventor follows his curiosity and creates a strange kind of clay from Bauxite Residue with interesting properties that might lead to cheap hydrogen production, energy storage, or improvements in chemical processing.

“Blue Mud” — What should be neutral, becomes very acidic.

Aluminum and Bauxite Residue (BR)

Aluminum is an Earth abundant metal that was locked away from human kind until the ability to concentrate aluminum oxide (Bayer Process) and electrolytically reduce the oxide to metallic aluminum (Héroult-Hall Process) were created just before the turn of the last century. The concentration of aluminum oxide leaves behind a waste material called Bauxite Residue (or Red Mud). I’ll try to use the phrase Bauxite Residue (BR) here, as the term “Red Mud” is perjorative, creating an emotional response due to the multiple catastrophes in its history. Using the words “Bauxite Residue” provides an opportunity to valorize this waste, and create something new from it. For more information see my previous article on Red Mud.

I’m a battery experimenter, with one patent (US10749168B1) in my name. My goal is to create batteries that can be easily created and maintained in developing regions with little more than a “recipe” and some leftover “junk”. One of the chemistries I was playing with, while it ultimately wouldn’t recharge…