EXTRACTION OF

ALUMINIUM
ALUMINIUM
 Aluminium is soft, silvery-white, corrosion-resistant metal.
 It is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust as it makes up 8% of the crust and it is the
third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon.
 Bauxite ore (Al2O3.xH2O) is the major source of aluminium till date which is a mixture of
hydrated aluminium oxide.
 Aluminium can also be recovered from cryolite (NaзAlF6) and alunite.
 It is also found in gemstones such as garnet, topaz and chrysoberyl. The chemical symbol of
this metal is Al.
 In the boron group with symbol Al, aluminium is a chemical element and is the most
commonly used non-ferrous metal.
CONTENTS
Ores of Aluminium
Metallurgy of Aluminium
Dressing of ore
Concentration of ore
Bayer’s Process
 Hall-Heroult Process
 Aluminium Uses
ALUMINIUM ORE
Ores of Aluminium
Aluminium is a highly reactive metal, belonging to the IIIA group of the periodic table. In
nature, aluminium is found in the form of its oxide in its ores. The important ores of aluminium
are
Bauxite – Al2O3.2H2O
Corundum – Al2O3
 Cryolite NaзAlF6
Metallurgy of Aluminium
 Aluminium is mostly extracted from its bauxite ore

 Dressing of Ore


The ore is mechanically crushed and pulverized.

CONCENTRATION OF ORE
The bauxite ore contains ferric oxide and silica as impurities. Gravity separation removes silica
from crushed ore and magnetic separation separates ferric oxide impurities from the ore. The ore is
then concentrated by a chemical process.

Bauxite is the name given to aluminium ore. To generate aluminium oxide, bauxite is purified, a
white powder from which aluminium can be extracted. Aluminium oxide has a very high melting
point of more than 2000° C which makes melting very expensive. Aluminium oxide in water does
not dissolve, but in molten cryolite, it dissolves

 Pure aluminium is a silver-white metal with many desirable features. It’s light, non-toxic, non-
magnetic, and non- sparking. It’s a bit ornamental. It’s created, machined, and cast readily. Pure
aluminium is soft and lacks strength, but it has very helpful characteristics for alloys with tiny
quantities of copper, magnesium, silicon, manganese and other components.
BAYER’S PROCESS
 Here aluminium is treated with concentrated sodium hydroxide solution to form soluble
sodium aluminate which can be filtered off.
 The filtrate is heated with water to get aluminium hydroxide which on strong heating gives
alumina.
HALL-HEROULT PROCESS
The Hall-Heroult process is widely used in

the extraction of aluminium in Hall-

Heroult process, pure Algy is mixed with

Caf, or No Alfe. This results in lowering the

meiting point of the mixture and increases

its ability to conduct electricity A steel

vessel with a lining of carbon and graphitia

rods is used.
The carbon lining acts as a cathode and
graphite act as an anode. When electricity
is passed through the electrolytic cell
which consists of carbon electrodes
oxygen is formed at the anode. This
oxygen formed reacts with the carbon of
the anode to form carbon monoxide and
carbon dioxide in this method of
production of aluminium, for every 1 kg of
Al produced, approximately 0.5 kg of
carbon anode is burnt
Aluminium ions are created at the adverse

cathode from the aluminium oxide and then sink down because they are heavier than the cryolite
solution. Then, the liquid shape of the aluminium that has sunk to the bottom. On the other side,
at the positive anode, the oxygen from the aluminium oxide forms and responds to

 carbon dioxide CO2 with the graphite carbon

The overall reaction I

2A120, +3C-4A1 + 300₂

The electrolytic reactions are: At the cathode:

Al3+36-Al (10) At the anode:

C(s)+0² - CO(g) +20

 C(a)+20-CO₂ (g) +40

During the process of electrolysis,

• Aluminium ions

that are positively charged goin electrons from the cathode and form molten aluminium ⚫ Oxide ions lose

electrons at the

anode and form

molecules of

Oxygen

in the electrochemical sequence le reactivity series, aluminium is very reactive to be removed from its ore by carbon reduction. The required temperatures are too
high to be economical
ALUMINIUM USES
1 Aluminium is used
In a wide range of
in the
field of transport
construction, etc. 2. Aluminium foils are used in the food
industries
for
wrapping food 3. The dust of this metal is used in
paints.
4. It is used in the
extraction of manganese and chromium from its
oxides.
5. As it is a soft metall and can moulded into any
be shape it is used in the manufacturing of storage cans. 6. After iron,
aluminium is the
most commonly
used metal.
7. It is mostly used
with another
in an alloy,
meaning that it is
blended with
another metal to
create another
compound with
some desirable
characteristics-like
stainless steel.
8.
Aluminium being light a good
conductor of heat, corrosion-resistant and cheap is used
in making
household
appliances.
9. It is used in electric
transmission as it is a good conductor of electricity.