Plant Location
A government promoting “green aluminum” would most likely invest in this type of energy source to power a new smelter.
What are renewable energy sources (such as hydroelectric power)?
Aluminium is obtained from this substance and in two stages.
What is bauxite, the purification of bauxite to make aluminium oxide, and the electrolysis of the purified alumina?
These properties of aluminium make it easy to roll it into thin sheets and draw it into wires. Because of this, aluminium is used to make aluminium foil, cans, packaging materials, and wires
What is malleable and ductile?
This is the amount of energy required to produce 1 tonne of aluminium
What is 13-15 MWh (Megawatt Hours)?
This method of extracting bauxite may destroy forests and agricultural land.
What is quarrying/open-pit mining?
Smelters are often located at these coastal facilities to efficiently import bauxite or alumina.
What are deep-water ports?
The following are the three main impurities in bauxite and name the types of bauxite
What is iron (III) oxide, silicon dioxide, and titanium dioxide? Types: White bauxite (1–4% silica and very little iron) and Red bauxite (3–25% iron (III) oxide and 1–7% silica)
Although pure aluminium is soft, when combined with other metals it gains this property, making it suitable for bridges and airplanes.
What is high strength (as an alloy)?
These are added to alumina to lower the melting point (2040 degrees Celsius to about 1000 degrees Celsius)
What is molten cryolite (Na₃AlF₆) and aluminium or calcium flouride?
This greenhouse gas is released from kilns during the removal of water from hydrated alumina.
What is carbon dioxide?
Hazardous waste from smelting, including spent pot lining (SPL), requires access to specialized facilities for this purpose.
What is safe disposal (or hazardous waste management)?
This property of aluminium oxide makes NaOH suitable to dissolve it to remove impurities.
What is amphoteric? (The basic oxides do not dissolve in sodium hydroxide)
Aluminium is used in cookware and radiators because it has this thermal property that allows heat to spread evenly.
What is good conductivity of heat?
Even when no aluminium is being produced, energy must still be supplied because this part of the smelting system cannot be allowed to cool.
What are the electrolytic pots (or reduction cells)?
The highly alkaline waste from alumina production is commonly referred to by this colour-based name.
What is red mud?
When a country establishes a smelter to avoid import tariffs in major markets like the United States or the European Union, it is responding to this economic influence.
What are trade policies (or free trade agreements)?
These are the stages of alumina production.
1. Powdered bauxite is mixed with concentrated NaOH and heated under pressure (4 atm) at 140 °C. This takes about 1–2 hours to complete.
2. The impurities are allowed to settle and are filtered off.
3. The sodium aluminate is ‘seeded’ with pure aluminium oxide and agitated with air. Slow cooling produces a precipitate of pure aluminium oxide trihydrate.
4.After 36 hours the alumina is removed by vacuum filtration then dehydrated in a rotary kiln at 1000 °C. The sodium hydroxide is recycled.
This property makes aluminium suitable for window frames, roofing, boats, and outdoor structures since it does not rust easily.
What is the formation of a thin layer of aluminium oxide (resistance to corrosion)
During electrolysis, these components are gradually consumed, meaning aluminium production uses both electricity and this material.
What are carbon anodes?
This toxic and highly reactive gas is produced increasingly as the amount of aluminium oxide in the cells decreases.
What is fluorine gas?
A nation with abundant hydroelectric power but weak port and rail infrastructure would struggle to develop a competitive smelting industry primarily because of deficiencies in this factor.
What is transportation and logistics infrastructure?
These are the reactions at the cathode and the anode in the electrolysis
Electrolysis occurs in carbon-lined cells:
Cathode reaction:
[Al³⁺ + 3e⁻ → Al(l)]
Anode reaction:
[ 2O²⁻+ C → CO₂ + 4e⁻]
This property is why aluminium is used in overhead power cables and electrical transmission lines, where low weight is important over long distances.
What is a good conductor of electricity?
Among the listed strategies, this one most directly reduces process emissions rather than simply improving energy efficiency.
What is inert anode technology?
This practice dramatically reduces energy use and overall environmental impact compared to producing aluminium from bauxite.
What is recycling aluminium?