The red mud disaster of October 4, 2010, followed the collapse of the Chamber 10 dam in Ajka Alumina Refinery, Hungary. About 1.3 milliom m³ sloppy slurry escaped and spread over a territory of some 10 km².

Professor János Szépvölgyi, director of the Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, discusses the properties of the red mud, its health and environmental impacts, the disposal of the red mud, and the reasons for the collapse of the embankment.

Also he gives an outlook on the processing of red mud into valuable products beacuse it contains metals, such as iron, titanium, vanadium, and rare metals in different concentrations.

• A Chemical Engineer’s View of the Red Mud Disaster,
  János Szépvölgyi,
  Nachr. Chem. 2011, 59.
  DOI: 10.1002/nadc.201180413