Industrial production of aluminium from bauxite and recycling - Essay Example

The following work serves to outline the processes involved in extraction of aluminum from bauxite ore and further details more on aluminum recycling in the United Arab Emirates. The initial step in aluminum manufacture involves the mining of bauxite through the open cast technique. This mined bauxite is crushed and then washed to remove the mud and other dirt that may be attached. Having done this, the washed bauxite is taken through the purification process also called the Baeyers Process. The Baeyers process success follow the idea acidity of silica oxide, basicity of iron oxide and titania and the fact that alumina is amphoteric.

Here, the crushed ore mixes with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or caustic soda to make a solution that is then heated. Following this process the alumina together with silica that in the form of reactive crystalline are dissolved, a process that leaves the iron oxide, titania and large percentage of silica that is already mixed with other elements. At this point filtration is done to separate the dissolved elements from the remaining residue. Following the cooling of the alumina and silica solution, a complex alluminosilicate or “sand” is precipitated out first before altering the process, a condition that allow crystallization of pure aluminum hydroxide.

To speed up this process, a small amount of crystalline hydroxide, which is in its pure form, is added to act as an area where the crystal develops. The uncontaminated aluminum hydroxide crystals Al (OH)3. 3H2O are then heated in an increasingly heated furnace until the temperature is 1100o C, a factor that causes them to decompose and thus form alumina (Al2O3) and water. Since alumina is covalently bonded, the electrolysis process can only be achieved when presented in an ionic form. To realize this, the alumina is dissolved in an electrolyte, which in this case is a mixture formed from molten