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    Ores and Metallurgy

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    Karthikayan Balaji
    1. The document discusses the general principles and processes involved in isolating metals from their ore sources. It describes the main types of ores and the steps of metallurgy including concentration, reduction, and refining. 2. Concentration methods include physical processes like gravity separation and froth flotation as well as chemical processes like calcination and roasting. Reduction involves smelting ores with carbon or carbon monoxide to extract the pure metal. 3. Refining processes like liquation, distillation, electrolysis, and zone refining are used to further purify metals by removing remaining impurities. Overall, the document provides an overview of how metals are extracted from different ores and processed.

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    Ores and Metallurgy

    Uploaded by

    Karthikayan Balaji
    56 views9 pages
    1. The document discusses the general principles and processes involved in isolating metals from their ore sources. It describes the main types of ores and the steps of metallurgy including concentration, reduction, and refining. 2. Concentration methods include physical processes like gravity separation and froth flotation as well as chemical processes like calcination and roasting. Reduction involves smelting ores with carbon or carbon monoxide to extract the pure metal. 3. Refining processes like liquation, distillation, electrolysis, and zone refining are used to further purify metals by removing remaining impurities. Overall, the document provides an overview of how metals are extracted from different ores and processed.

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    1. The document discusses the general principles and processes involved in isolating metals from their ore sources. It describes the main types of ores and the steps of metallurgy including concentration, reduction, and refining. 2. Concentration methods include physical processes like gravity separation and froth flotation as well as chemical processes like calcination and roasting. Reduction involves smelting ores with carbon or carbon monoxide to extract the pure metal. 3. Refining processes like liquation, distillation, electrolysis, and zone refining are used to further purify metals by removing remaining impurities. Overall, the document provides an overview of how metals are extracted from different ores and processed.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    56 views9 pages

    Ores and Metallurgy

    Uploaded by

    Karthikayan Balaji
    1. The document discusses the general principles and processes involved in isolating metals from their ore sources. It describes the main types of ores and the steps of metallurgy including concentration, reduction, and refining. 2. Concentration methods include physical processes like gravity separation and froth flotation as well as chemical processes like calcination and roasting. Reduction involves smelting ores with carbon or carbon monoxide to extract the pure metal. 3. Refining processes like liquation, distillation, electrolysis, and zone refining are used to further purify metals by removing remaining impurities. Overall, the document provides an overview of how metals are extracted from different ores and processed.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 9

    General Principles & Processes of

    Isolation of Metals

    Types of Ores:
    Ores may be divided into four groups

    1.

    Native Ores: These ores contain the metal in free state eg. Silver gold etc.
    These are usually formed in the company of rock or alluvial impurities like clay, sand
    etc.

    2.

    Oxidised Ores:These ores consist of oxides or oxysalts (eg. carbonates,


    phosphate) and silicate of metal. Important oxide ore includes, Fe 2O3, Al2O3.2H2O etc.
    and important cabonate ores are limestone (CaCO 3), Calamine (ZnCO3) etc.

    3.

    Sulphurised Ores: These ores consist of sulfides of metals like iron, lead,
    mercury etc. Examples are iron pyrites (FeS2). galena (PbS), Cinnabar (HgS)

    4.

    Halide ores: Metallic halides are very few in nature. Chlorides are most common
    examples include horn silver (AgCl) carnallite KCl. MgCl 2.6H2O and fluorspar (CaF2) etc.

    Metallurgy:
    It is the process of extracting a metal from its ores. The following operations are carried
    out for obtaining the metal in the pure form.
    a) Crushing of the ore
    b) Dressing or concentration of the ore.
    c) Reduction of metal.
    d) Purification or refining of the metal

    Concentration:
    a) Physical Method :
    Gravity separation: The powdered ores is agitated with water or washed with a running
    stream of water. The heavy ore particles of sand, clay etc. are washed away.
    Froth Floatation Process: The finely divided ore is introduced into water containing
    small quantity of oil (e.g. Pine Oil). The mixture is agitated violently with air a froth is
    formed which carries away along with it the metallic particles on account of the surface
    tension forces. The froth is transferred to another bath where gangue-free ore settles
    down.
    Electro Magnetic Separator:. A magnetic separator consists of a belt moving over two
    rollers, one of which is magnetic. The powdered ore is dropped on the belt at the other
    end. Magnetic portion of the ore is attracted by the magnetic roller and falls near to the

    roller while the non-magnetic impurity falls farther off

    b) Chemical Methods
    Calcination: Carbonate or hydrated oxide ores are subjected to the action of heat in
    order of expel water from hydrated oxide and carbon dioxide from a carbonate.
    Examples:
    ZnCO3 --> ZnO + CO2
    CaCO3 --> CaO + CO2
    Al2O32H2O --> Al2O3 + 2H2O
    2Fe2O33H2O --> 2Fe2O3 + 3H2O
    Roasting: Sulphide ores either are subjected to the action of heat and air at
    temperatures below their melting points in order to bring about chemical changes in
    them.
    Examples:
    2PbS + 3O2 --> 2PbO + 2SO2
    PbS + 2O2 --> PbSO4
    2ZnS + 3O2 --> 2ZnO + 2SO2
    ZnS + 2O2 --> ZnSO4
    CuS + 2O2 --> CuSO4
    2Cu2S + 3O2 --> 2Cu2O + 2SO2
    Leaching: It involves the treatment of the ore with a suitable reagent as to make it
    soluble while impurities remain insoluble. The ore is recovered from the solution by
    suitable chemical method.
    Al2O3 + 2NaOH -->2 NaAlO2 + H2O

    Reduction of Free Metal:


    a)Smelting: Reduction of a metal from its ore by a process involving melting

    Several reducing agents such as sodium, magnesium and aluminium are used for
    reduction.
    The calcinated or roasted ore is mixed with carbon (coal or coke) and heated in a
    reverberatory or a blast furnace.
    Carbon and carbon monoxide produced by incomplete combustion of carbon reduce the
    oxide to the metal.

    b) Flux:
    The ores even after concentration contain some earthy matter called gangue which is
    heated combine with this earthy matter to form an easily fusible material. Such a
    substance is known as flux and the fusible material formed during reduction process is
    called slag.
    Acidic fluxes like silica, borax etc are used when the gangue is basic such as lime or
    other metallic oxides like MnO, FeO, etc
    Basic fluxes like CaO, lime stone (CaCO3), magnesite (MgCO3), haematite (Fe2O3) etc
    are used when the gangue is acidic like silica, P 4O10 etc.

    Refining:
    The metals obtained by the application of above reduction methods from the
    concentration ores are usually impure. The impure metal is thus subjected to some
    purifying process known as refining in order to remove undesired impurities. Various
    process for this are

    a) Liquation process

    b) Distillation process

    c) Cupellation

    d) Poling

    e) Elecrolytic refining

    f) Bessemerisation

    Thermodynamic Principles of Metallurgy:


    G =H-TS
    or G0 =-RT ln K

    An element A can reduce element B if G value for oxidation of A to AO is lower than


    the G value for oxidation of B to BO.
    i.e. G(AAO) < G(BBO)

    Extraction of Aluminium:
    a) Important Ores of Aluminium:

    1.

    Bauxite : Al2O32H2OCryolite: Na3AlF6

    2.

    Feldspar: K2OAl2O36SiO2 or KAlSi3O8

    3.

    Mica: K2O3Al2O36SiO22H2O

    4.

    Corundum: Al2O3

    5.

    Alumstone or Alunite: K2SO4Al2(SO4)34Al(OH)3

    b) Purification of Bauxite

    c) Electrolysis of fused pure alumina (Hall & Herwlt Method)

    The addition of cryolite (Na3AlF6) and fluorspar (CaF2) makes alumina a good conductor
    of electricity and lowers its Fusion temperature from 2323 to 1140 K. the reaction taking
    place during electrolysis.

    b) Refining of Aluminium:
    The graphite rods dipped in pure aluminium and CuAl alloy rod at the bottom in the
    impure aluminium work as conductors. On electrolysis, aluminium is deposited at
    cathode from the middle layer and equivalent amount of aluminium is taken up by the
    middle layer from the bottom layer (impure aluminium). Therefore, aluminium is
    transferred from bottom to the top layer through middle layer while the impurities are left
    behind. Aluminium thus obtained is 99.98% pure.

    Hyrdrometallurgy (solvent extraction)


    Solvent extraction is the latest separation technique and has become popular because
    of its elegance, simplicity and speed. The method is based on preferential solubility
    principles.
    Solvent or liquid-liquid extraction is based on the principle that a solute can distribute
    itself in a certain ratio between two immiscible solvents, one of which is usually water
    and the other an organic solvent such as benzene, carbon tetrachloride or chloroform.
    In certain cases, the solute can be more or less completely transferred into the organic
    phase.

    Extraction of Iron:
    a) Important Ores of Iron:
    Haematite Fe2O3 (red oxide of iron)
    Limonite Fe2O33H2O (hydrated oxide of iron)
    Magnetite Fe3O4 (magnetic oxide of iron)

    b) Extraction of Cast Iron:

    Extraction of Copper:
    a) Ores of Copper:

    Copper glance (chalcocite) : Cu2S


    Copper pyrites (Chalopyrites): CuFeS2
    Malchite : Cu(OH)2 CuCO3
    Cuprite or Ruby copper: Cu2O
    Azurite : Cu(OH)22CuCO3

    Refining of metals:

    1.

    Zone refining (Fractional crystallization) This method is employed for


    preparing extremely pure metals. This method is based upon the principle that when a
    molten solution of the impure metal is allowed to cool, the pure metal crystilises out
    while the impurities remain in the melt.

    2.

    Electro-refining: In this method, the impure metal is converted into a block


    which forms the anode while cathode is a rod or plate of pure metal. These electrodes

    are suspended in an electrolyte which is the solution of a soluble salt of the metal
    usually a double salt of the metal. When electric current is passed, metal ions from the
    electrolyte are deposited at the cathode in the form of pure metal while an equivalent
    amount of metal dissolves from the anode and goes into the electrolyte solution as
    metal ion. The soluble impurities present in the crude metal anode go into the solution
    while the insoluble impurities settle down below the anode as anode mud.
    3.

    Van-Arkel Method: In this method, the metal is converted into it volatile unstable
    compound such as iodide leaving behind the impurities. The unstable compound thus
    formed is decomposed to get the pure metal.

    4.

    Cupellation and Poling are used for refining of metals, cupellation is contain
    impurities of other metals with traces of lead are removed from silver by heating impure
    silver with a blast of air in a cupel (an oval shaped pan made up of bone ash) in which
    lead is oxidised to lead oxide (PbO) which being volatile escapes leaving behind pure
    silver.Poling is used for refining of such metals which contain impurities of its own oxide.
    In this process, the molten impure metal is stored with green wooden poles. At the high
    temperature of the molten metal, wood liberates methane which reduces the oxide of
    the metal to free metal.

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