Utilization of red mud for making bricks

‘Red mud’ or ‘bauxite residue’ is a highly alkaline waste generated from alumina refinery with a pH of 10.5–12.5. Red mud poses serious environmental problems such as alkali seepage in ground water and alkaline dust generation. Most of the environmental hazards related to disposal of red mud can be reduced by its safe treatment and efficient utilization. Sintering of red mud along with a silicate material at a very high temperature fixes nearly all the leachable soda and the mixture can be utilized as a building material. Fired and non-fired bricks can be developed by mixing red mud with fly ash and other materials. In this way, red mud can be utilized in bulk in building and construction industry. Review of utilization of red mud in manufacture of fired and non-fired bricks is presented in the paper.