Aluminum smelting extracts metallic aluminum from alumina using electricity. The Hall-Heroult process made it affordable and available. The process involves purifying alumina, mixing it with cryolite, and subjecting it to high temperatures. By-products are generated, and pollution controls are necessary. Smelting is different from mining as it removes useful metals from the ore.
Aluminum smelting is an industrial process used to extract metallic aluminum from aluminum oxide or alumina. This is based on a chemical reaction catalyzed by exposure to electricity. Before an effective method of smelting aluminum was developed, this metal was extremely difficult to obtain and consequently very expensive. This changed with the development of the Hall-Heroult Process, named after the two people who independently invented it, making the metal both affordable and readily available.
The first step in this process involves processing the raw ore to produce purified aluminum oxide. This may include washing, grinding and treating with caustic materials to leave a uniform white powder which will be ready for casting. The treated alumina is mixed with cryolite and subjected to high temperatures to create a liquid mixture which passes into a vat. In the vat, electricity moves through the mixture, causing molten aluminum to sink to the bottom.
In an aluminum smelting plant, the tanks are periodically drained using bottom taps to remove the metal. This process requires a number of controls, including a constant supply of electricity for continuous production because the contents of the vats cannot solidify. If they do, a tub can require costly repairs, if it can be fixed at all. The high energy demands of aluminum smelting lead many facilities to be located near power plants for greater safety.
Numerous by-products are generated during the aluminum smelting process. These include gases and mineral impurities that arise in ore preparation and in the smelting itself. Pollution controls are a major concern for many businesses who want to avoid harming the environment and incurring hefty fines. Air filtration can be used to limit the release of toxins into the environment and waste products are handled with care so that they can be properly disposed of. Some by-products can be used in the production of other goods, an attractive option when available.
Some confusion can arise between merging and merging, because the two terms sound similar. In smelting, a key chemical change occurs in the materials being processed; in this case, the aluminum separates from the ore. It is a process used in mining to remove useful metals from the ore, rather than to process the metals already in pure or alloyed form, as is the case with smelting. Once the smelting is complete and the metal purified, the smelting can be included in future processing to make various components or prepare the metal for shipment.
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