CHM 102

INTRODUCTION TO METAL EXTRACTION Dr. (Mrs.) Falope

The Earth's crust contains many different rocks. Rocks are a mixture of minerals and from some
we can make useful substances. A mineral can be a solid metallic or non–metallic element or
a compound found naturally in the Earth's crust.

Mineral ores are naturally occurring rocks that provide an economic starting point for the
extraction and manufacture of metals for a huge variety of purposes i.e a metal ore is rock
containing sufficient metal to be worth extracting the metal from it.

Ore is therefore defined has a mixture of a metal containing mineral and other materials
(which can be described as impurities with respect to what you want from the ore) from
which metals are extracted from.

The metal ore, a mineral or mixture of minerals from which economically viable amounts
of metal can be extracted, i.e. it must have enough of the metal, or one of its compounds, in it
to be worth digging out!

Elements vary in abundance. Among metals, aluminium is the most abundant. It is the third most
abundant element in earth’s crust (8.3% approx. by weight). Iron is the second most abundant
metal in the earth’s crust. It forms a variety of compounds and their various uses make it a very
important element. It is one of the essential elements in biological systems as well. Selection of
ore forms a very crucial step in the metallurgy of a metal, as this decides on the economic
viability of the process.

Metal ores are obtained by mining and that this may involve digging up and processing large
amounts of rock. Often, an ore contains not only a desired substance. It is usually contaminated
with earthly or undesired materials known as gangue. The extraction and isolation of metals
from ores involve the following major steps:

 Concentration of the ore,  Isolation of the metal from its concentrated ore, and 
Purification of the metal.

Concentration of ores
This is the first step in the metallurgy as unwanted impurities i.e. the gangue is removed in this
step. Removal of the unwanted materials (e.g., sand, clays, etc.) from the ore is known as
concentration, dressing or benefaction. Before concentration, ores are crushed, powdered and
graded to a reasonable size. It involves several steps and selection of these steps depends upon
the differences in physical or chemical properties of the compound of the metal present and that
of the gangue. The type of the metal, the available facilities and the environmental factors are
also taken into consideration while selection of the method of concentration. Some of the
important procedures are:
Hand Picking: In cases where the sizes of impurity particles differ from the size of the ore
particles, the impurities can be removed manually by picking with hand. Generally rocky
particles and other coarse earthy material are removed by this method.
Hydraulic Washing: The concentration process of an ore by Hydraulic Washing method may be
compared with washing of pulses to remove any dirt or small stones before cooking. The
principle for this separation is difference in gravities of the ore and the gangue particles. It is
therefore a type of gravity separation method. In one such process, an upward stream of running
water is used to wash the powdered ore. The lighter gangue particles are washed away and the
heavier ores are left behind. The method has been in use for concentration of ores of tin and lead
as these are heavy and settle to the bottom, whereas the dirt (gangue) is washed off.
Magnetic separation: the Principle is based on the differences in the magnetic properties of the
ore components. If either the ore or the gangue (one of these two) is capable of being attracted by
a magnetic field, then such separations are carried out. The ground ore is carried on a conveyer
belt which passes over a large electromagnetic roller. The magnetic component gets carried away
with the roller whereas the non-magnetic component drops first and makes a heap. The magnetic
component being carried away with the conveyer belt forms a separate heap. This method has
been in use for concentration of iron ores.
Froth Floatation Method: it principle is based on the difference in the wetting characteristics of
ore and gangue. The mineral particles are wetted by oils (floation agent) while the gangue
particles by water. This method has been in use for removing gangue from sulphide ores. In this
process, first a suspension of the powdered ore is made with water.Collectors and froth
stabilisers are added to the suspension. The Collectors enhance non wetting ability of the mineral
particles in water. Examples of collectors are pine oils,fatty acids, xanthates,etc. Froth stabilisers
as the name suggests stabilise the froth. Examples are cresols, aniline etc. A rotating paddle
agitates the mixture and draws air in it. As a result, froth formed by the collectors light and thus
carries the mineral particles along with it to the top. It is then easily removed from the top and
dried for recovery of the ore particles.
Sometimes, the ore obtained from nature is a mixture of sulphide of two metals, for example, an
ore containing ZnS and PbS. In such case the two sulphide ores are separated by adjusting
proportion of oil to water or by using ‘depressants’.
Leaching: In metallurgical process the concept of Leaching is used to convert the metal ore into
a soluble compound and then filter off the impurities as residue. In general Leaching means to
separate soluble constituents of a mixture by passing a suitable liquid through it. Leaching is
often used if the ore is soluble in some suitable solvent. Eg. Leaching of alumina from bauxite:
Extraction of Crude Metal from Concentrated Ore
The method used for the extraction of the metal from the concentrated ore depends upon purity
required, energy requirements, the cost of the reducing agent and the nature/position of the
metal in the reactivity series. Based on their reactivity, the metals have been grouped into the
following three categories:

Extraction of Iron from Hematite

The extraction of iron is done in the blast furnace through a reduction process. Raw materials for
the extraction are: Iron Ore (Haematite), Coke, Limestone and Air. Iron Ore, Coke and
Limestone are mixed together and fed into the top of the blast furnace. Hot air is blasted into the
bottom of the blast furnace

Coke is an impure carbon and it burns in the hot air to form carbon dioxide. This is a strongly
exothermic reaction:

C (s) + O2 (g) → CO2 (g)

At the high temperatures in the furnace, carbon dioxide reacts with coke to form carbon
monoxide:
CO2 (g) + C (s) → 2CO (g)

Carbon Monoxide (the reducing agent) reduces the Iron (III) Oxide in the Iron Ore to form Iron.
This will melt and it is collected at the bottom of the furnace, where it is tapped off. This molten
iron is called the pig iron.

Fe2O3 (s) + 3CO (g) → 2Fe (l) + 3CO2 (g)

Limestone is added to the furnace to remove impurities in the ore. The Calcium Carbonate in the
limestone decomposes to form calcium Oxide:

CaCO3 (s) → CaO (s) + CO2 (g)

The Calcium Oxide reacts with the Silicon Dioxide, which is an impurity in the Iron Ore, to form
Calcium Silicate. This melt is collected as a molten slag floating on top of the molten Iron, and it
is tapped off separately.

CaO (s) + SiO2 (s) → CaSiO3 (l)

To further reduce the carbon content of pig iron, it is melted again with scraps of iron and coke
and subjected to the blast of hot air. This kind of iron is called Cast Iron and has a slightly lower
carbon content 2 – 3 %. This is even harder than pig iron.

Wrought Iron

Wrought iron is the purest form of iron available commercially available and is prepared from
cast iron by heating cast iron in a furnace lined with Haematite (Fe2O3). The Haematite reacts
with Carbon in the cast iron to give pure iron and carbon monoxide gas which escapes.

Limestone is then added as flux, and it creates the slag. Impurities such as S, Si pass into the slag
and the slag later can be easily separated to yield pure iron.

The Process of Aluminium Extraction by Electrolysis

The ore for Aluminium is Bauxite. The Bauxite is first purified to produce Aluminium Oxide
(Al2O3) through the process called the Bayer’s Process

Aluminium Oxide has a very high melting point so it is first dissolved in molten Cryolite
(Na3AlF6) producing an electrolyte with a lower melting point, as well as a better conductor of
electricity than molten aluminium oxide. This also reduces expense considerably. This process is
referred to as the Hall’s Process

The electrolyte is a solution of aluminium oxide in molten cryolite at a temperature of about

At cathode: aluminium is discharged

 Al3+ + 3e- → Al

At anode: oxygen is discharged

 2O2- - 4e- → O2

Some of the oxygen produced at the anode then reacts with the carbon electrodes to produce
carbon dioxide gas. This causes the carbon electrodes to burn away, so they must be replaced
regularly.

 C (s) + O2 (g) → CO2 (g)

The Process of Zinc Extraction

Zinc ore is called zinc blende, ZnS. The zinc blende is first converted to zinc oxide by heating
with air.

2ZnS + 3O2 → 2ZnO + 2SO2

The reducing agent is carbon monoxide which is formed inside the furnace through a series of
reactions. Carbon burns in a blast of very hot air to form carbon dioxide:

C + O2 → CO2

The carbon dioxide produced reacts with more coke to form carbon monoxide:

CO2 + C → 2CO

Carbon monoxide then reduces the zinc oxide to zinc

 Note that the zinc produced is in the gaseous state. This passes out of the furnace and is
cooled and condensed in a tray placed at the top of the furnace
 This is a key difference between the extraction of iron and aluminium, both of which are
collected at the bottom of the furnace / electrolytic cell in the liquid state

Assignment
List three uses each of iron, aluminium and zinc