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Aluminium is the most widely used metal after iron. It has a low density, is malleable and easily
worked. It is also corrosion resistant and a good conductor of both heat and electricity. The important ores
of aluminum are silicates, oxides, fluorides, sulfates etc.
Silicates: Kaolin, Potash Feldspar, Potash Mica
Fluorides: Cryolite
Sulfates: Alunite
Al3+ + 3e- Al
At anode:
2O2- O2 + 4e-
The aluminium metal then sinks to the bottom of solution and is tapped off.
Copper
About 80% of the world's primary copper comes from ores in which copper is present as a sulfide
mineral, for example, chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) (the most abundant copper ore), bornite (Cu5FeS4) and
chalcocite (Cu2S). These ores contain typically only about 0.5-2% copper. The remainder of primary
production comes from ores in which copper is present as silicates, sulfates, carbonates and oxides, which
have been formed by the weathering and oxidation of sulfide minerals. The method used to extract copper
from its ores depends on the nature of the ore. Sulfide ores such as chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) are converted
to copper by a different method from silicate, carbonate or sulfate ores. The ores typically contain low
percentages of copper and have to be concentrated before refining (e.g., via froth flotation).
The manufacture of the copper takes place in three stages:
a) concentration of the ore
b) conversion of the sulfides and other copper compounds to copper
c) purification of copper
(a) Concentration of the ore
The ore is enriched by froth flotation. The powdered ore is mixed with oil and agitated with water in
a large tank to which detergent has been added. Compressed air is forced through the mixture, and the
lightweight particles of copper sulfide are carried to the top and float on the froth. Heavier clays and other
silicates settle to the bottom of the tank.
(b) Conversion of sulfides to copper
The concentrated ore is heated strongly with silicon dioxide (silica) and air or oxygen in a furnace or
series of furnaces. The copper ions in the chalcopyrite are reduced to copper sulfide (which is reduced
further to copper metal in the final stage). The iron in the chalcopyrite ends up converted into an iron
silicate slag which is removed. Most of the sulfur in the chalcopyrite turns into sulfur dioxide gas. This is
used to make sulfuric acid via the Contact Process. An overall equation for this series of steps is:
Iron
The common ores of iron are both iron oxides, and these can be reduced to iron by heating them
with carbon (coke) at high temperatures in a blast furnace. Coke is produced by heating coal in the
absence of air. Coke is cheap and provides both the reducing agent for the reaction and also the heat
source. The most commonly used iron ores are hematite, Fe2O3, and magnetite, Fe3O4. The manufacture
of iron has two stages, the preparation of raw materials, and the reduction of iron oxide to iron.
(a) Preparation of raw materials
Iron is one of the most abundant elements on Earth and its ores commonly contain oxygen, silicon,
manganese, phosphorus and sulfur. The major minerals present in ores include hematite (Fe2O3) and
magnetite (Fe3O4). Most ores contain more than 60% iron and are used in their mineral state in a blast
furnace. Ore containing less than this is first crushed and ground into a powder and concentrated by
flotation. It is then rolled into balls and heated in a furnace to produce pellets the size of marbles. This
process eliminates the long-distance transport of waste material (clays and other silicates).
(b) The reduction of iron oxide to iron (The Blast Furnace)
The air blown into the bottom of the furnace is heated using the hot waste gases from the top. The
coke (essentially impure carbon) burns in the blast of hot air to form carbon dioxide - a strongly exothermic
reaction. This reaction is the main source of heat in the furnace.
C + O2 CO2
At the high temperature at the bottom of the furnace, carbon dioxide reacts with carbon to produce carbon
monoxide.
C + CO2 2CO
It is the carbon monoxide which is the main reducing agent in the furnace.
Lead
The Lead is extracted from its ore by reduction with carbon. The most important lead ore is galena
(PbS). Other important ores, such as cerrusite (PbCO3) and anglesite (PbSO4), may be regarded as
weathered products of galena and are usually found nearer the surface.
The primary manufacture of lead involves three stages:
a) ore concentration
b) smelting
c) refining
(b) Smelting
Smelting is usually a two-stage process as described here. After mixing with limestone the filtered
concentrated ore is roasted in air or oxygen-enriched air on a moving belt. Most of the sulfide is converted
to lead oxide:
Sulfur dioxide gas can then be cleaned and used to make sulfuric acid.
The lead oxide is heated and made into lumps, a process known as sintering. The lumps are crushed to a
suitable size for subsequent treatment in a blast furnace. Each lump is mixed with approximately 7% of its
mass in coke and limestone. The coke is added for two purposes, one as the reducing agent and the other
as a source of heat. The mixture is fed into the top of the blast furnace, and the lead oxide is reduced to
molten lead. Carbon and carbon monoxide, produced from the coke, are the reducing agents:
The molten lead is tapped off from the base of the furnace and put into a 'holding kettle' which keeps the
metal molten for the refining process. The product contains about 99.5% lead.
(c) Refining
99.5% lead is heated to just above its melting point. Solid copper and copper sulfide rise to the surface
and are skimmed off. Arsenic is then removed by stirring the lead with an air blast and skimming off the resulting
slag which contains arsenic oxides. Silver is removed by adding 2% zinc to the lead and a silver-rich zinc crust
forms. During cooling a solid silver/zinc crust separates, rises to the surface and is removed continuously. Zinc is
removed by dezincing which is carried out by vacuum distillation at 860K when the zinc vaporizes. Finally, all
traces of antimony and zinc are removed by mixing sodium hydroxide into molten lead at 760K (its melting point
is 600K). The resulting sodium zincate and antimonate form a skin on the surface of the molten lead which is
skimmed off. The refined lead is of 99.99% purity.
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white metal. Nickel is
hard and ductile. On Earth, nickel occurs most often in combination with sulfur and iron in pentlandite,
with arsenic in the mineral nickeline, and with arsenic and sulfur in nickel galena.
Nickel is recovered through extractive metallurgy: it is extracted from its ores by conventional
roasting and reduction processes that yield a metal of greater than 75% purity. In many stainless
steel applications, 75% pure nickel can be used without further purification, depending on the composition
of the impurities.
Most sulfide ores have traditionally been processed using pyrometallurgical techniques to produce
a matte for further refining. Recent advances in hydrometallurgical techniques have resulted in significant
nickel purification using these processes. Most sulfide deposits have traditionally been processed by
concentration
through
a froth
flotation process
followed
by pyrometallurgical extraction.
In
hydrometallurgical processes, nickel sulfide ores undergo flotation and then smelted. After producing the
nickel matte, further processing is done via the Sherritt-Gordon process. First, copper is removed by
adding hydrogen sulfide, leaving a concentrate of only cobalt and nickel. Then, solvent extraction is used to
separate the cobalt and nickel, with the final nickel concentration greater than 99%.
Purification of nickel oxides to obtain the purest metal is performed via the Mond process, which
increases the nickel concentrate to greater than 99.99% purity. This process makes use of the fact
that carbon monoxide combines with nickel readily and reversibly to give nickel carbonyl. No other element
forms a carbonyl compound under the mild conditions used in the process.
This process has three steps:
1. Nickel oxide reacts with H2 gas at 200 C to give nickel, together with impurities including iron and cobalt.
Chromium is a chemical element with symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is a steely-gray, hard and
brittle metal which takes a high polish and has a high melting point. The name of the element is derived
from the Greek word chrma, meaning color, because many of its compounds are intensely colored. Nearly
all chromium is commercially extracted from the single commercially ore chromite, which is iron chromium
oxide (FeCr2O4). Chromite is also now the chief source of chromium for chromium pigments. Chromium
metal and ferrochromium alloy are commercially produced from chromite by silicothermic or aluminothermic
reactions, or by roasting and leaching processes.
The two main products of chromium ore refining are ferrochromium and metallic chromium. For the
production of ferrochromium, the chromite ore (FeCr2O4) is reduced in large scale in electric arc furnace or
in smaller smelters with either aluminium or silicon in an aluminothermic reaction. For the production of
pure chromium, the iron has to be separated from the chromium in a two steps roasting and leaching
process. The chromite ore is heated with a mixture of calcium carbonate or sodium carbonate in the
presence of air. The chromium is oxidized to the hexavalent form, while the iron forms the stable Fe 2O3.
The subsequent leaching at higher elevated temperatures dissolves the chromates and leaves the
insoluble iron oxide. The chromate is converted by sulfuric acid into the dichromate.
Where h is Planck's constant. The frequency of the radiation emitted at an orbit of period T is as it would be
in classical mechanics; it is the reciprocal of the classical orbit period:
such as freezing point depression, boiling point elevation, osmotic pressure and lowering of vapor
pressure.
is defined as the total mass (w) of all the molecules in a polymer sample divided by
the total number of molecules present. Thus, the number-average molecular mass is defined by:
Where,
ci = weight-concentration of Mi molecules;
c = total weight-concentration of all polymer molecules
Where a = constant. The viscosity and weight-average molecular masses are equal, when a = unity.
However,
polydisperse polymer