The processing of hazardous spent potlining (SPL) from the aluminium production process is attracting more and more attention among diverse stakeholders due to steadily increasing production rates of aluminium and associated waste quantities. This leads to major challenges for waste management. This thesis gives an introduction to the production process of primary and secondary aluminium with special focus on thereby produced SPL waste. The properties of SPL are characterized and state of the art technologies for treatment and recycling processes are described. Furthermore, the difficulties in dealing with the fluoride and cyanide contaminated waste are pointed out. The theoretical research is followed by the development of an acidic leaching process on laboratory scale. All experiments performed as well as the results and the conclusions are documented in this master thesis. On the basis of the tests a proposal for a possible industrial plant is made. Therefore, all material flows, tank sizes as well as the size of pumps and decanter centrifuges are calculated. A process and instrumentation diagram and a CAD drawing offer a first impression of an industrial plant.