Metals Extracted In WestBengal

Iron(Fe)

Copper(Cu)
Copper Mining:

The commonest ore used in the extraction of copper is Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2)

also known as Copper Pyrites and other such sulphides. The percentage of
copper in the actual ore is too low for direct extraction of copper to be viable.
The concentration of ore is required and it is done by the Froth Flotation method.

Concentration of Ore:
The ore is crushed into a fine powder and a suspension is created in water. To
this are added, Collectors and Froth Stabilizers. Collectors (pine oils, fatty acids
etc) increase the non-wettability of the metal part of the ore and allow it to form
froth and Froth Stabilizers (cresols, aniline etc) sustain the froth. The oil wets the
metal and the water wets the gangue. Paddles and air constantly stir up the
suspension to create the froth. This frothy metal is skimmed off the top and dried
to recover the metal.

Copper Smelting:
Smelting is a metallurgy technique to extract base metals from their ores with the
help of heat and a chemical reducing agent. (Click here for extraction process).
Copper Smelting means that the concentrated ore is heated strongly with silicon
dioxide (silica), calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and air in a furnace. The major steps
in the extraction of copper are

 Copper in Chalcopyrite is reduced to copper sulphide.

 Just like in Blast Furnaces, calcium carbonate is added as a flux to create the slag.
 Iron in Chalcopyrite is removed as iron silicate slag.
 Most of the sulphur in Chalcopyrite turns into Sulphur dioxide (SO2).

The reaction of these processes can be written as:

2CuFeS2+2SiO2+4O2 → Cu2S+2FeSiO3+3SO2
The copper extracted from this process is mixed with the slag and is called Matte
Copper due to its texture and appearance. This mainly consists of Cu2S which is
reduced to pure metal by blasting Matte Copper with air.

Cu2 S+O2 → 2Cu+SO2

The sulphur dioxide escapes the copper and this causes bubbles to appear and
burst as SO2 leaves. This causes the final product to have a very blistery
appearance and hence it is called Blister Copper; 98 – 99.5 % pure.

Copper is an outstanding conductor of electricity and combined with its ductility, it

is the perfect metal to make electrical wiring, both domestic and industrial. The
electronic Age would have been just a dream without
Extraction of Iron
Extraction of iron from its ore is the third and the penultimate process in the
Metallurgy. The extraction of metals and its isolation occurs over a few major
steps:

1. Concentration of Ore
2. Extraction of metal from concentrated Ore
3. Purification of the metal

How is iron extracted from its ore? It’s a long process which begins with
Concentration through calcination roasting. Concentration removes the water
and other volatile impurities such as sulphur and carbonates. This concentrated
ore is mixed with limestone (CaCO3) and Coke and fed into the blast furnace
from the top. It is in the blast furnace that extraction of iron occurs. The extraction
of iron from its ore is a long and subdued process, that helps in separating the
useful components from the waste materials such as slag.

What happens in the Blast Furnace?

The purpose of a Blast Furnace is to reduce the concentrated ore chemically to

its liquid metal state. A blast furnace is a gigantic, steel stack lined with refractory
brick where the concentrated iron ore, coke, and limestone are dumped from the
top, and a blast of hot air is blown into the bottom. All the three ingredients are
crushed into small round pieces and mixed and put on a hopper which controls
the input.

Hot air is blown from the bottom and coke it burned to yield temperatures up to
about 2200K. Burning coke provides the majority of the heat required for this
process. At such high temperatures, Coke reacts with the oxygen in the hot air to
form Carbon Monoxide (CO). The CO and heat now move upwards and meet the
raw material running down from the top. The temperature in the upper parts of
the Blast Furnace is considerably lower than the 2200K at the bottom. In this
part, Haematite (Fe2O3) and Magnetite (Fe3O4) are reduced to Ferrous Oxide
(FeO).
Reactions in the Blast furnace at 500 – 800 K, In the upper parts with lower
temperatures,

3Fe2O3+CO2 Fe3O4+CO2

Fe3O4+4CO 3Fe+4CO2

Fe2O3+CO 2FeO+CO2

At 900 – 1500 K, In the lower sections of the furnace,

C+CO2 2CO
FeO+ CO Fe+CO2

The limestone also decomposes to CaO which removes the silicate impurity of
the ore in the form of Slag. It can be easily separated out of molten iron. The iron
manufactured in Blast Furnaces contain about 3 – 4 % of Carbon and smaller
quantities of many other impurities such as sulphur, Silicon, etc. This is called
Pig Iron. It is a hard but brittle metal and the impurities severely hamper its
strength. Carbon seems to play a significant role in influencing the brittleness
and hardness balance in iron. 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/ Malleable 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.
Extraction of Aluminium

Aluminium is a soft, silvery-white, corrosion-resistant metal. It is the most

abundant metal in the earth’s crust as it makes up 8% of the crust and it is the
third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon. Bauxite
ore (Al2O3.xH2O) is the major source of aluminium till date which is a mixture of
hydrated aluminium oxide.

Aluminium can also be recovered from cryolite (Na3AlF6) and alunite. It is

also found in gemstones such as garnet, topaz and chrysoberyl. The
chemical symbol of this metal is Al. In the boron group with symbol Al, aluminium
is a chemical element and is the most commonly used non-ferrous metal.

Aluminium Ore

Ores of Aluminium
Aluminium is a highly reactive metal, belonging to the IIIA group of the periodic
table. In nature, aluminium is found in the form of its oxide in its ores. The
important ores of aluminium are


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

 Bauxite – Al2O3.2H2O
 Corundum – Al2O3
 Cryolite – Na3AlF6

Metallurgy of Aluminium
Aluminium is mostly extracted from its bauxite ore.

Dressing of Ore
The ore is mechanically crushed and pulverized.
Concentration of ore
The bauxite ore contains ferric oxide and silica as impurities. Gravity separation
removes silica from crushed ore and magnetic separation separates ferric oxide
impurities from the ore. The ore is then concentrated by a chemical process.

Bauxite is the name given to aluminium ore. To generate aluminium oxide,

bauxite is purified, a white powder from which aluminium can be extracted.
Aluminium oxide has a very high melting point of more than 2000° C which
makes melting very expensive. Aluminium oxide in water does not dissolve, but
in molten cryolite, it dissolves.

Pure aluminium is a silver-white metal with many desirable features. It’s light,
non-toxic, non-magnetic, and non-sparking. It’s a bit ornamental. It’s created,
machined, and cast readily. Pure aluminium is soft and lacks strength, but it has
very helpful characteristics for alloys with tiny quantities of copper, magnesium,
silicon, manganese and other components.

Bayer’s Process
Here aluminium is treated with concentrated sodium hydroxide solution to form
soluble sodium aluminate which can be filtered off. The filtrate is heated with
water to get aluminium hydroxide which on strong heating gives alumina.

Hall-Heroult Process
The Hall-Heroult process is widely used in the extraction of aluminium. In Hall-
Heroults process, pure Al2O3 is mixed with CaF2 or Na3AlF6. This results in
lowering the melting point of the mixture and increases its ability to conduct
electricity. A steel vessel with a lining of carbon and graphite rods is used.

The carbon lining acts as a cathode and graphite act as an anode. When
electricity is passed through the electrolytic cell which consists of carbon
electrodes oxygen is formed at the anode. This oxygen formed reacts with the
carbon of the anode to form carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. In this method
of production of aluminium, for every 1 kg of Al produced, approximately 0.5 Kg
of carbon anode is burnt.
Aluminium ions are created at the adverse cathode from the
aluminium oxide and then sink down because they are heavier than
the cryolite solution. Then, the liquid shape of the aluminium that has
sunk to the bottom. On the other side, at the positive anode, the
oxygen from the aluminium oxide forms and responds to carbon
dioxide CO2 with the graphite carbon.

The overall reaction is:

2Al2O3 + 3C → 4Al + 3CO2

The electrolytic reactions are:

At the cathode:
Al 3+ + 3e– → Al (l)

At the anode:
C (s) + O2- → CO (g) + 2e–

C (s) + 2O2- → CO2 (g) + 4e–

During the process of electrolysis,

 Aluminium ions that are positively charged gain electrons

from the cathode and form molten aluminium.
 Oxide ions lose electrons at the anode and form molecules
of oxygen.
In the electrochemical sequence i.e., reactivity series, aluminium is
very reactive to be removed from its ore by carbon reduction. The
required temperatures are too high to be economical.

Aluminium Uses
The list of uses of aluminium is given below.

o

1. Aluminium is used in a wide range of

applications in the field of transport,
construction, etc.
2. Aluminium foils are used in the food
industries for wrapping food.
3. The dust of this metal is used in paints.
4. It is used in the extraction of
manganese and chromium from its
oxides.
5. As it is a soft metal and can be moulded
into any shape it is used in the
manufacturing of storage cans.
6. After iron, aluminium is the most
commonly used metal.
7. It is mostly used with another metal in
an alloy, meaning that it is blended with
another metal to create another
compound with some desirable
characteristics-like stainless steel.
8. Aluminium being light, a good conductor
of heat, corrosion-resistant and cheap is
used in making household appliances.
9. It is used in electric transmission as it is
a good conductor of electricity.
Chromite Extraction Process in Tmilnadu
The chromite extraction process in Tamil Nadu involves
various stages and uses specific chemicals. Here is a
simplified overview of the process along with some
possible chemical reactions involved:

1. Mining and excavation: Chromite ores are first extracted

from the mines using various mechanical methods.

2. Crushing and grinding: The extracted ores are then

crushed and ground into fine particles to increase the
surface area for chemical reactions.

3. Concentration: The crushed chromite particles are then

further processed to separate the valuable chromite
mineral from the gangue materials. This typically involves
gravity separation, magnetic separation, or flotation
techniques.

4. Roasting: The concentrated chromite is then subjected

to high-temperature roasting in a controlled environment.
The purpose of roasting is to convert the chromite ore into
sodium chromate, which is more soluble and easier to
extract.

- Chemical reaction: FeCr2O4(s) + 4Na2CO3(s) + 6O2(g) →

4Na2CrO4+ 2Fe2O3(s) + 4CO2(g)

5. Leaching: The roasted chromite is now mixed with

water and treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or
sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) solution to leach out the
sodium chromate.

- Chemical reaction: Na2CrO4(s) + H2O(l) + 2NaOH →

2Na2CrO4 + 2H2O(l)

6. Filtration: The resulting solution is then filtered to

separate the liquid sodium chromate solution from any
remaining solid impurities.

7. Acidification and precipitation: The sodium chromate

solution is neutralized using sulfuric acid (H2SO4) or other
suitable acids to convert it into chromic acid (H2CrO4).
 - Chemical reaction: 2Na2CrO4+ H2SO4 → Na2SO4+
H2CrO4

8. Crystallization: The chromic acid solution is gradually

cooled to allow the chromic acid to crystallize out. These
crystals are then separated from the remaining liquid.

9. Drying and packaging: The obtained chromic acid

crystals are dried, filtered, and packaged for further use in
various applications.
Metals Extracted In TamilNadu
Bauxite/Aluminium(Al)

Chromite
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to all those
who directly or indirectly helped and supported me
throughout the project.

Firstly, I am highly indebted to my Chemistry teacher

Mr. Subhodip Roy for his guidance and constant
supervision as well as for providing necessary information
regarding the project. I would also like to extend my
gratitude to our principal for giving me a chance to work
on this project.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, friends & team

members for their continued support and coordination in
this project.
 Certificate
This is to certify that the Extraction of metals in
WestBengal and in TamilNadu is submitted by the
Soumyajit Baruri under the supervision of
Mr. Subhodip Roy in the academic year 2023

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