Chemistry Metals Report

...

Age - up to 2300 to 1000 BCE- Cu and C was heated and mixed to make broze, as tin wasn’t able to be used by itself. Bronze was used mainly as tools and weapons in many parts of Africa and Asia

Iron Age- up to 1000 BCE to 1CE- this age was known for the use of iron for also making tools and weapons, as they tough and durable.

Modern Age- 1 CE- Iron and aluminum are the main metals found at stage but many useful alloys like( stainless steel, carbon steel, titanium, tungsten, Mg... was used profoundly.

Future Developments- the use of plastics and composite materials will increase as they are used for packings, electrical wirings building materials etc...,

In the future, we will continue to depend heavily on metals and because our ore deposits have decreased majorly from the past years and with the help of our advanced technology we could able to produce more man-made metals.And metals are recyclable so reusing and recycling metals will be a huge component of our lives.

And technology will also continue to grow and new technologies with low energy consumption will benefit the environment and will also, reduce our impact on the environment.

4. Analyse information to compare the cost and energy expenditure involved in the extraction of aluminium from its ore and the recycling of aluminium

Minerals are solids which occurs naturally, containing many valuable metals. Which are mainly found in our economic deposits. – that is, minerals are also known for their economic value.

Definitions

-Economic deposit – contains ore with a high percentage of the required mineral, which can be easily extracted.

-Non-economic deposits of natural resources do not contain minerals which are economically viable to extract and produce.

Ores are non renewable resources- which will eventually replenish in the earth’s crust, but this process is time consuming so they known as non-renewable resources, (oil, coal…)

Yields

Yields- the amount of products obtained from a chemical reaction.

Forecasting the yield of an ore deposit will be unreliable as it is impossible to know the profitable commercial investment percentage. Mining is a industry will costs huge amounts of money and investing the money for mining equipment and infrastructure might profit or loss because the quantities of minerals found in ores and the amount of time, the production will take before the mine is consumed.

Some factors which affect the price of metals:-

The abundance of ores found in ores

The less ‘rare’ metals will have a higher (CP)commercial price.

The location also determines the cost of metals, a more populated ore- will be more highly demanded and the level of damage made to the environment will also cost production.

The amount of energy inputted into extracting the metal from the ore.

The amount of energy is needed to purify and extract from the ore,

The extraction techniques will also also raise the cost of metals.

(An example is Platinum which is an expensive metal also raises the difficulty to extract it from its ore.)

Recycling Aluminum

The element Aluminum is full 100% recyclable. It also doesn’t lose any of it’s properties in the process of recycling. It has a very low energy consumption. It’s also the most abundant metal being recycled (60% of Australia’s aluminum is recycled). The initial cost of extracting aluminum from its ore is very high, so recycling this element will reduce the cost and save money.

The collection of aluminum - Recyclable cans like frizzy cans and car batteries are being recycled through councils and organisations like the Australian Aluminum Council.

Reusing by the process of melting-

Aluminums are melted are at temperatures which reach up to 790ºC. Melted Aluminum is then, sent to new sheets of aluminum which can be molded into new products for packaging.(e.g.- new coca-cola drink cans )

Energy saving and financially saving money

As, more and more aluminum are being recycled, the less amount of Al will need to be mined. Which will save energy and money

The element Aluminum in total is decreasing drastically, influencing the increase in prices.

Statistically- Every year Australia successfully recycles 2 bill aluminium cans and products with a total value in excess of AUD $33 million.

Due to this- Australia is also importing these recycled materials and is generating more money to save-which influence our economy and our society in a positive way

Recycling also produces approx 5% of the CO2 by raw extraction methods. And, extracting Al requires approx 66000 (MJ) and recycling only requires (800 MJ)

Recycling, is currently very cost effective and environmentally beneficial.

Cost:

Environmental costs: impact to the environment, due to land degradation.

The price of land, which needs to be purchased, which can costing billions

Exports – large costs involved in freighting minerals (eg. equipment required) to

foreign countries, such as China

Transportation – it is also expensive for the transport from the mine to the refinery.

10 tonnes of bauxite are required to produce 1 tonne of aluminium, using this process.

Total cost – AU$1 632 per tonne. (statics)

5. Describe the separation processes, chemical reactions and energy considerations involved in the extraction of copper from one of its ores

The main procedure of extracting