Aluminum

Metal of the 21st Century

Al facts
8.13 wt.% of the crust Weighs about 1/3 of Cu or Fe Malleable, ductile, easily cast and machined, corrosion resistant Excellent conductor of electricity

History of Discovery
Rubies and Sapphires
Corundum

1809 1825 1886

recognized as alumina Al isolated value>>> Au Electrolytic process developed

U.S. France

Charles Hall Paul Heroult

History Cond
1886 Chemical process of cleaning bauxite Karl Bayer Austria 1947 First Al foil

Uses of Al
Packaging Transportation Building Electrical wires Al compounds
Petroleum industry, refractories, grinding and polishing, synthetic jewels

Ore Mineral of Al

Major producers of bauxite

Producers in 2006

Bauxite mining in Suriname

Al Producers
2001 2006

Bayer Process
1888 From the World Al institute
http://www.worldaluminium.org/production/refining/chemistry.ht ml

Al Smelting
Hall-Heroult Al Institute

What do we need to make one pound of Al?

4 # of bauxite ore
Yields

2# of alumina
Yields

1# of Al

Environmental Problems
Red mud from Bayer process F from electrolysis

Bauxite Reserves
1985 1990 1993 2006 21 billion ton 21.8 billion ton 23 billion ton 25 billion ton

Rate of use in 2006

177 million tons per year How long will the reserves last?
Answer: about 141 years

Your homework
By Thursday I would like you to come up with an estimate of how much it costs to produce a ton of Al----you will need to look up data on the web or in books in the library but for this, usually the web is better

Al Recycling in the U.S.

Al from old scrap
2,000,000 1,500,000
tons

1,000,000 500,000 0 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

In Class Problem
1990-2000: recycled about 1.55 million T of Al from old scrap 2000-2006: drops to about 1.1 million What does this save the U.S. in electricity??

Data Needed
Production of 1# of Al uses approximately 10 kwh of elec There are about 2200# in a metric T The average cost for industrial electricity in the U.S. in 2006 was 6.11 cents/kwh Takes 5% of the energy to remelt old scrap as it does to produce new Al

Al in the U.S.
10,000,000 8,000,000 6,000,000 4,000,000 2,000,000 0 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 Primary Production Secondary Apparent consumption