Aluminium oxide, Smelter-grade alumina to storage

Activity Alumina by the Bayer process (3000 t/d smelter-grade alumina, concept), GLO: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedalumina-1:alumina-by-the-bayer-process-3000-t-d-smelter-grade-alumina:product:ALUPreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset
Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Unallocated foreground LCI of Alumina by the Bayer process (3000 t/d smelter-grade alumina), case design, derived from the flowsheet by cheme assess lca.

Reference product
1 kilogram of Aluminium oxide, Smelter-grade alumina to storage (1.01325 bar(a), 80 degC, 99 % Al2O3 (mass))
Chemical
aluminium-oxide
CAS
1344-28-1
Code
alumina-1:alumina-by-the-bayer-process-3000-t-d-smelter-grade-alumina:product:ALU
Dataset
alumina-by-the-bayer-process-3000-t-d-smelter-grade-alumina version 0.1.0 · UUID 43e89365-e22b-5443-9aef-4b59904535d8
Activity UUID
not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348 (version preview-c3ab348)
Process
Alumina by the Bayer process (3000 t/d smelter-grade alumina, concept)
Geography
GLO · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period
2026 · valid until 2031
Technology
Bayer process, low-temperature digestion (418 K) of gibbsitic bauxite, pre-desilication, settler and 6-stage CCD washing, residue filter presses (dry stacking), seeded precipitation, multiple-effect evaporation, gas suspension calciner on natural gas; 3000 t/d smelter-grade alumina · level current
Boundary
gate-to-gate foreground of the plant
Production volume
1,050,000,000 kg/a (product:ALU per hour x operation.hours_per_year (8400 h/a))
Classification
ISIC Rev.4 2420 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model
attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation
none, 100 % of the dataset to this product (rule single-output, from study)
one product: nothing to allocate
Rights
CC-BY-4.0: the ChemE-as-Code process library's own concept design (LICENSE-DATA)

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Aluminium oxide, Smelter-grade alumina to storage

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 11 assumed. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary3 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.
InputAmountUnitProvenancePedigreeLinked to
Bauxite, gibbsitic (Guinea, Debele type), crushed
feed:BX
stream S1 (scripts/bayer_balance.py, D-003, D-004)
From stream S1
2.193kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Quicklime
feed:LIME
stream S2: 52 kg/t alumina (IAI 2019 LCI report, D-004)
From stream S2
0.052kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Caustic soda make-up, 50 wt% solution
feed:NAOH
stream S5: make-up equal to the sodium losses (D-005)
From stream S5
0.03096kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (pinned): Chlor-alkali by membrane-cell electrolysis (100 kt/a Cl2, 50 wt-% caustic soda, hydrogen) (Sodium hydroxide, Caustic soda 50 wt-% to storage, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names no chemical only; sodium-hydroxide (Sodium hydroxide, Caustic soda 50 wt-% to storage) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation shares (deviation); boundary plant gate (pinned): no distribution or losses; the consumer's dataset counts its delivery
Fresh water make-up
feed:PW
stream S33: make-up to the hot water tank (D-005)
From stream S33
0.1342kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3market for water, deionised (water, deionised, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Natural gas (calciner fuel)
feed:NG
stream S34: calciner fuel, 2.8 GJ/t alumina (D-008)
From stream S34
0.056kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: natural gas, per kg, as methane (Atlas unit proxy) (natural gas, by mass, GLO)
MP steam 1000 kPa(a) to the digestion heaters (condensate returned)
feed:MPS
Q1: digestion heaters (D-007)
steam, MP, 179.85 degC, 10 bar(a)
From stream Q1
0.462kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
LP steam 450 kPa(a) to the liquor heater and the evaporators (condensate returned)
feed:LPS
Q2 + Q3: spent liquor heater trim and evaporators (D-007)
steam, LP, 147.65 degC, 4.5 bar(a)
From streams Q2, Q3
0.2096kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
Electric power
feed:POWER
Q7: lumped plant demand 152 kWh/t alumina (IAI 2019 LCI report Table 4, D-007)
electricity
From stream Q7
0.152kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Bauxite residue filter cake to the residue storage area (dry stacking)
product:RES
stream S23 (D-005)
From stream S23
0.7585kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Cooling water return
product:CW
Q4 + Q5 + Q6 (D-007)
cold, 25 degC
From streams Q4, Q5, Q6
0.567kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (plant): cooling water service, per kWh heat rejected (Atlas screening proxy) (heat rejected to cooling water, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names cooling-water only; cooling-water (Heat rejected to cooling water, 25/35 degC) is taken; unit kilowatt hour; carrier cold, 25 degC from cold, 25 degC; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)

Elementary flows

FlowDirectionCompartmentAmountUnitProvenancePedigree
Carbon dioxide, fossil
aa7cac3a-3625-41d4-bc54-33e2cf11ec46
From stream S37
emissionair / non-urban air or from high stacks0.1536kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3

The streams are the plant's own flows: an amount here is allocated and per 1 kilogram of Aluminium oxide, Smelter-grade alumina to storage, so it differs from the stream's flow, and it can sum several streams.

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/alumina-1/lca/dataset.yaml in library version c3ab348.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review
Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality
DQR 2.33 · PEF-style DQR 2.75
TeR 3 · GeR 3 · TiR 1 · P 4 · C 4 · weakest TeR · primary data 0 %
Mass and carbon closure
Assessed (lca/manifest.json balance, tolerance 5 %: design maturity concept (sourced screening))
  • lci-carbon-origin: closed
  • lci-element-balance: closed
  • lci-mass-balance: closed
Change report
Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

Not available: no benchmarked KPI for this dataset.

How to use it

Downloads

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348", "alumina-1:alumina-by-the-bayer-process-3000-t-d-smelter-grade-alumina:product:ALU"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Aluminium oxide, Smelter-grade alumina to storage, from Alumina by the Bayer process (3000 t/d smelter-grade alumina, concept) (dataset alumina-by-the-bayer-process-3000-t-d-smelter-grade-alumina 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-c3ab348, activity alumina-1:alumina-by-the-bayer-process-3000-t-d-smelter-grade-alumina:product:ALU. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-c3ab348.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026, in preparation). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}