The invention mainly belongs to the technical field of pyrogenic process-
hydrometallurgy and particularly relates to a method for selectively leaching
scandium and
sodium from bayer
red mud. By the adoption of the method, the
scandium, a rare and expensive metallic element, and
sodium high in content can be leached from the
red mud, and separation of the
scandium and the iron element in the
red mud can also be achieved. According to the method, based on the occurrence form of the scandium in the red mud, the bayer red mud is evenly mixed with concentrated
sulfuric acid, after low-temperature sulphating is conducted, medium-temperature calcinating is conducted, and escaping
sulfur trioxide and
sulfur dioxide or
sulfuric acid are recycled during sulphating and medium-temperature calcinating; and after
sulfate impurities are decomposed, a washing liquor rich in the scandium and the
sodium and low in
iron content is obtained through water leaching. The washing liquor, prepared through the method, rich in the scandium and the sodium and low in
iron content provides absolute advantages for the follow-up steps of
ion exchange and
solvent extraction and re-extraction; and after
solid-liquid separation, the obtained leaching residues high in
iron content and low in sodium content can be used as a
building material or a
raw material of
blast furnace iron making. Besides, the
sulfuric acid used as the
reagent in the method can be recycled and reused, and therefore no new
pollution is generated.