ALUMINIUM ORE TO ALUMINIUM METAL

Aluminium is the most abundant metal on Earth, but it is expensive, largely because of the amount of electricity used in the extraction process.
Aluminium ore is called bauxite (Al2O3). The bauxite is purified to yield a white powder – aluminium oxide (also known as alumina) – from which aluminium can be extracted.
The extraction is done by electrolysis, but first the aluminium oxide must be melted so that electricity can pass through it. However, aluminium oxide has a very high melting point (over 2,000°C) so it would be expensive to melt it.
Instead, it is dissolved in molten cryolite – an aluminium compound with a lower melting point than aluminium oxide. The use of molten cryolite as a solvent reduces some of the energy costs involved in extracting aluminium by allowing the ions in aluminium oxide to move freely at a lower temperature

#aluminium #gajananramchandrameshram