<p>Atmospheric roasting–alkali leaching desilication processes can be employed to improve the alumina/silica ratio in low-grade bauxite by exposure to a caustic solution. The obtained alkali-silicate solution can be used after removing the silicate for cycling desilication of roasted bauxite. Moreover, during the solution desilication process, a large amount of silicate products are produced due to the addition of lime. Therefore, in this study, silicate products were used to desiliconize alkali-silicate solutions. The results showed that the silicate products + lime mixture as desilication reagent facilitates a better desilication ratio (94.3%). The high desilication ratio is mainly due to the growth of Ca₅Si₆(OH)O₁₇·5H₂O and CaO·SiO₂·H₂O(Ι) crystals in the silicate products, which has a synergistic desilication effect with CaO. The bauxite undergoes cyclic desilication, and the alumina/silica ratio increases from ~ 4.1 to &gt; 7.5. The effective utilization of the alkali-silicate solution and the silicate products greatly reduces the cost of the desilication process, thereby making the use of low-grade bauxite in the Bayer process practical.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>