Abstract: Alkali in red mud is harmful to water，land and air of the surrounding areas because of the rainfall when red mud is stored on land.Meanwhile，alkali restricts red mud′s comprehensive utilization in building materials such as cement.The distribution of alkali，including Na and K，in red mud was studied by electron probe microanalysis and in situ ICP-MS.The effects of leaching liquids with different pH on Na and K in red mud were also investigated.According to the leaching experiment，more than 17.6%，16.8%，and 19.6% of Na and 10.5%，10.1%，and 11.4% of K can be leached from the Bayer red mud，while 36.7%，53.1%，and 54.1% of Na and 40.0%， 56.8%，and 57.5% of K can be leached from the red mud from the sintering process，using the leaching solutions with pH of 2，4，and 8，respectively

Key words: red mud, alkali, leaching, comprehensive utilization