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Extraction of Iron From Iron Ore

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EXTRACTION OF IRON FROM IRON ORE The Earth is mined to obtain the rocks that containing iron ore.

Then the iron ore was transferred to factory to be extracted. In order to get the iron, we have to extract them from the iron ore.Heamatite (Fe2O3) and Magnetite (Fe3O4) are two common iron ores that usually used. In this assignment, we will use the equation of heamatite.

Figure shows a Blast furnace The iron ore, limestone and coke are burn together inside the furnace. The hot air that goes inside the furnace from the bottom is heated up by the heat that escape from the top. This process is to ensure that heat are not wasted because heat is a essential in this process. The coke, (fuel with few impurities and highly carbon content, usually made of coal Wikipedia) which burns in the blast of hot air gives out carbon dioxide under an extreme exothermic reaction, is the main source of heat in the process. ( C + O2 = CO2) At bottom where high temperature is, carbon will react with carbon dioxide to form carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is the main source of reducing agent. ( C + CO2 = 2CO) The carbon monoxide will react with iron ore, haematiteto form iron and carbon monoxide. ( Fe2O3 + 3CO = 2Fe + 3CO2) In hotter part of the furnace, carbon itself can be a reducing agent but the product is carbon monoxide instead of carbon dioxide. (Fe2O3 + 3C = 2Fe + 3CO)

The iron that results from the process is molten due to the high temperature at the bottom of the furnace. They will tapped off from the furnace at the bottom. Iron ore does contain impurities. The limestone that are added together with iron ore and coke is used to eliminate the impurities because they do not melt at the temperature. Limestone will convert them into molten slug so that it can be easily extracted out and does not clog inside the furnace. The high temperature will turns cause limestone to form calcium oxide and carbon dioxide. This reaction is an endothermic reaction so the amount of limestone should not exceed the limit because we do not want the furnace to cool down. (CaCO3 CaO + CO2) Calcium oxide (basic oxide) will react with acidic oxides such as silicon dioxide that present in the iron ore. Calcium oxide reacts with silicon dioxide to give calcium silicate. (CaO + SiO2 = CaSiO3) Calcium silicate will be melted and formed a layer above the molten iron. It can be tapped off at the bottom. TRANSFORMATION TO STEEL There are few process in order to turn iron into steel because there are a few types of steel (carbon steel, stainless steel, cobalt steel, etc.). The processes are Bessemer Process, Open Hearth Process, Electric Furnace Steelmaking and Basic Oxygen Steelmaking. In this assignment, we will discuss about Bessemer Process.

Figure shows a Bessemer converter in steelmaking process The converter could endure attack from acidic oxides because it was lined with siliceous refractories. The molten iron that have been tapped off into the converter. Air will flow inside the converter through the tuyeres. Oxygen from the air will react with Si, C and Mn held by the iron to form oxides like SiO2, MnO, FeO etc. Acidic slag will be form from these acidic oxides while Carbon will oxidized into CO and CO2 which will get out through the mouth.

(2Si + O2 = SiO2) (2Mn + O2 = 2MnO) (C + O2 = CO2) / (2C + O2 = 2CO) These oxidation reactions are exothermic reaction. After the refining complete, liquid metal and slag will be tapped separately and the liquid steel cast called as ingots. The ingots then be forged into various shape.

PROCESS TO PRODUCE STEEL CUTLERY FROM IRON ORE

Blanking
Production begins with rectangular, flat blanks of stainless steel, sterling silver, or in the case of plated flatware, an alloy. Large rolls are stamped in individual blanks, which are flat pieces roughly the same shape as the piece to be produced.

Rolling
Through a series of rolling operations, these blanks are graded or rolled to the correct thickness and shapes required by the manufacturer's flatware patterns. First the blanks are rolled crosswise from left to right, right to left, and lengthwise, then trimmed to outline. Each spoon, for instance, must be thick at the base of the handle to resist bending. This gives graded pieces the right

balance and a good feel in the hand. Each piece is now in the form of a cleanly finished shape in the rough dimension of the utensil.

Annealing
Between operations, the blanks must pass through annealing ovens to soften the metal for further machine operations. The annealing, done under great heat, must be very accurately controlled so the final piece will be resistant to bending and to nicks and dents when in use. The First step in cutlery manufacture involves blanking the stainless steel or sterling silver to the proper shape. A series of rolling operations then gives the piece the correct thickness. After heat treatment and trimming, the piece has a pattern embossed on it in a stamping operation. Finally, the piece is buffed and polished. important, because the pieces must be just the right degree of hardness when they are embossed. Then the metal can be forced easily into all the tiny details in the dies and the ornamentation will be faithfully reproduced.

Cutting to outline
The rolled blanks are placed in the cutout press by an operator, to remove the excess metal and to fashion the shape of the piece. This process is similar to cutting shapes from rolled dough. The shape of the piece is cut out of the metal and the excess metal is remelted and transformed back into sheets of metal to be used again. This trimming must ensure an accurate fit of the pieces into the dies when the design is applied.

Forming the pattern


The next step is the forming of the pattern. Each pattern has its own hardened steel diestwo dies for each piece, one with the pattern for the front of the piece, and the other with the pattern for the back of the piece. These are carefully set in the hammers by die setters. The operator quickly places a piece in place under the drop hammer, which descends with a hydraulic pressure of 200 tons. (The bases of the drop hammers are bedded in 160 cubic yards of cement.) The metal is squeezed into every tiny detail of the ornamentation in the die, embossing the pattern on the piece. The blow of the hammer hardens the piece for use in the home. Surplus metal around the outline of the piece is then removed by clipping presses.

Silver plating
For the silver-plated pieces, the electroplating process is an additional step. The pieces are first prepared by being buffed so that the edges are smooth and the surfaces are free from small holes. When the buffing is completed, the pieces are given a thorough cleaning with as many as 12 different chemical solutions. Finally, they undergo electrolysis, in which a layer of silver is electrically deposited over the base metal.

ELECTROPLATING TO PRODUCE GOOD FINISHING CUTLERY

The electrolysis using argentum nitrate as the electrolyte, argentums plate as the anode and spoon as the cathode. The argentums plate dissolves to form argentums ion (Ag+) in argentums nitrate solutions. At cathode, argentums metal (silver) is deposited on the surface of the iron spoon. Ag+(aq) + e- Ag (s) Electroplating of the iron spoon with argentums occurs.

TYPE OF WATE PRODUCTS FROM IRON INDUSTRY AND THE CLASSIFICATION INTO SUITABLE TYPE OF POLLUTION

Air Pollution Carbon Dioxide Carbon dioxide emission from iron industry contribute a great portion of the world production of carbon dioxide. This is because iron industry made use carbon as a reducing agent in the production of iron from iron ore. It is the source of energy. There are few effort taken by the people from the industry to reduce the emission. This is done by waste-heat recovery and energy saving, reducing 47% of the levels of carbon dioxide emissions by the iron industry in 1960. Although carbon dioxide emission does not really cause harm towards human directly, it will contribute to the greenhouse effect which is associated with global warming. Sulphur Dioxide During the combustion processes in the iron industry, a great amount of sulphur dioxide has been produced depend on the content of sulphur of the fossil fuel used. A major sources of sulphur dioxide is in coke used as fuels. In the air, oxygen radicals and water will react with sulphur dioxide to form a sulphuric acid aerosol and, may form an ammonium sulphate aerosol in combination with ammonia. Sulphur dioxide has the tendency to form respirable aerosols thus it may affect our health. In order to reduce the exposure of sulphur dioxide are by using fuels with low sulphur content and by reduce the concentration of the particulates. By using electric furnaces, the emission of sulphur oxides by eliminating the need for coke. Nitrogen oxides Same as sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and nitrogen dioxide are formed during fuel combustion processes. In the presence of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, they react with oxygen and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to form ozone. Water also can combine with them to form nitric acid, combines with ammonia to form ammonium nitrate. These will form respirable aerosols. Organic Emissions Benzene, tolune, xylene, dioxins and phenols are some organic emissions from steel operations. Depending on its source and the way it was used, the substances may include in the scrap steel used as raw material. Some of the substances cannot be filtered by the conventional gas cleaning systems.

Water Pollution Heavy Metals High level of zinc and manganese may contained in iron-making process water while discharges from cold-rolling and coatings and also may contain zinc, cadmium, aluminum, copper and chromium. High concentration of these metals may harm human and the ecosystem. This is because they are not biodegradable thus may concentrated at river bed and inside the tissues of aquatic life. Their also have the potential to be toxic.

Oils and Greases These two substances may form as soluble and insoluble forms. Most of them are relatively easy to be removed because they are insoluble. By contacts with detergents, they may become emulsified. PCBs, lead and other heavy metals may contained in oil component. The oxygen content of the water can be decreased by the biological and chemical oxygen demand (BOD and COD) of oils and other organic compounds, causing to affect the viability of aquatic life.

ACTION THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT TO PREVENT/REDUCE POLLUTION FROM IRON INDUSTRY.

Iron industry is very important because a portion of our life activity depend on them, for example the production car which made us easy to travel from one place to another. Thus we could not to shut it down in order to stop the pollution caused by the industry. To have a greener environment, we should have efforts to reduce the pollution without causing any slowdown in the production of iron. First, both federal and state governments have to enforce the industry and consumers in maximizing the collection and recycling end products of iron. Mining ore is one of the process that contribute to emission of carbon dioxide. Thus we have to find a solution in order to cut off the emission from the process. For example by recycling old car, the industry does not have to mining another same amount of the iron ore to build another car. This would help the industry to cut off the cost to mine the raw material along with the cut off emission of greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxide. Thus carbon emissions from iron industry have been reduced. Second, we should not to expect that the industry on its own to invest in a long term of research and development (R&D) of new green technologies to reduce iron industry emission. Government should give support to the industry to develop a new technology by being a partner along with significant financial contributor. For example a Japaneses program named as COURSE-50 which aims to develop new technologies to reduce emission from blast furnaces and also to develop technologies for carbon capture and storage (CCS) that can be applied to blast furnaces. CCS is a technology which the carbon dioxide produced will be captured, compressed and injected deep into a rock formation at a carefully chosen and safe site, where it is permanently stored.

Third, our country should have a strict water quality regulation. The regulation should include limit on the release of heavy metal, more strict requirement for total suspended solids, higher pH limit and minimum toxicity requirement. The enforcement of the regulation should be done regularly by the officers. Any factory that does not follow the regulation should be given a notice to shut down its operation within 24 hours until the solution to the pollution problem have been taken. The factory should be sued due to their mistake. This will educate other factory to take care the environment. By doing so, we could minimize the water pollution and save aquatic life. Clean water source also will be guaranteed safe if there is not pollution.

Those are three action that the government should take in order to prevent more pollution caused by the iron industry. There are more suggestion that government can take, but it does not change anything if government itself does not take any action. Our government should take action now so that future generation does not blame us due to the pollution that they may encounter in future.
HOW TO EDUCATE PUPILS TO PREVENT/REDUCE POLLUTION RELATING TO IRON INDUSTRY IN THE FUTURE.

1. The school should create an debate event about environment pollution 2. The pupils that take science subject can create the scrap books the ways to reduce environment pollutions 3. The mayor of the village can call the lecturer to give an explanations to the community about the environment pollution and the ways to prevent or reduce it effect. 4. The school also can make a trips to ministry of environment department to give an awareness about side effect of heavy metal to environments. 5. The pupils also can arrange the recycles campaign in their community.

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