ST JOSEPH INT.
SCHOOL CHEMISTRY FARHANA ISLAM
Extraction of metals
Most metals are found in the Earth’s crust combined with other elements. The individual compounds are
called minerals. They are normally found mixed with other unwanted minerals in rocks.
An ore is a sample of rock that contains enough of a mineral for it to be worthwhile to extract the metal.
The ores are extracted through mining and are then refined to extract the metal.
The price of a metal is affected by how common the ore is and how difficult it is to extract the metal from
the ore.
Many ores contain either oxides or compounds that are easily converted into oxides. Sulfides and
carbonates can easily be converted into oxides by heating in air, a process called roasting. To obtain the
metal from the oxide, the oxygen needs to be removed. As removal of oxygen is called reduction, extraction
of metals is called a reduction process.
As these are ionic compounds, the metal exists as positive ions or cations. During the extraction, the metal
cation gains the necessary number of electrons to convert into the corresponding atom. Gain of electrons
is also called reduction.
A few very unreactive metals, e.g. gold, are found native. This means that they exist naturally as the
uncombined element. Silver and copper are also sometimes found native.
Methods of extraction and the reactivity series
How a metal is extracted depends to a large extent on its position in the reactivity series. A manufacturer
would want to use the cheapest possible method an ore to the metal. The two main economic factors to
take into account are:
• cost of energy
• cost of the reducing agent
1 For a metal below carbon in the reactivity series, the cheapest method of reducing the ore is to
heat it with carbon or carbon monoxide (reducing agents). The extraction of iron is a good
example of this.
2 Ores of metals higher in the reactivity series than carbon cannot be reduced using carbon as
the reducing agent at reasonable temperatures. The metals are held in their compounds (oxides or
chlorides) by stronger bonds which need a lot of energy to break them. This energy is best supplied
by electricity. So, these metals are usually extracted using electrolysis. The metal ion gains
electrons from the cathode and are converted into metal atoms.
The extraction of metal by electrolysis is expensive. Large amounts of electricity involved
and the energy costs to keep the ore molten can be very high. So a metal like aluminium is
much more expensive than one like iron.
3 Some metals, such as titanium are extracted by heating the compound with a more reactive metal.
This is also an expensive method, because the more reactive metal itself will have to be extracted
by an expensive process first.
ST JOSEPH INT. SCHOOL CHEMISTRY FARHANA ISLAM
Some common ores
Metal Name of ore Chemical name of Formula
compound in ore
Aluminium Bauxite Hydrated aluminium oxide Al2O3.2H2O
Copper Copper pyrites Copper iron sulfide CuFeS2
Iron Hematite Iron(III) oxide Fe2O3
Sodium Rock salt Sodium chloride NaCl
Zinc Zinc blende Zinc sulfide ZnS
Extraction of iron
The main ore of iron is hematite (Fe2O3 / iron(III) oxide). The reaction is a redox reaction, the Fe2O3 is
reduced to Fe and the C or CO is oxidised to CO2.
1 The iron is obtained by reduction with carbon / carbon monoxide in a blast furnace at high
temperatures.
2 The furnace is a tall steel tower lined with refractory / heat resistant bricks. A mixture of iron ore,
coke (impure carbon / a form of carbon made from coal) and limestone (a mineral form of calcium
carbonate) is introduced into the furnace from the top. Blasts of hot air are sent in through holes
near the bottom of the furnace.
3 A series of reactions take place to produce molten iron (melting point 1538C).
Reaction 1 The carbon (coke) burns in the air blast to form carbon dioxide CO2. This reaction
is highly exothermic and is important to keep the temperature of the furnace
high enough for the main reduction reaction to occur.
C (s) + O2 (g) → CO2 (g)
Reaction 2 As the carbon dioxide rises through the furnace, it reacts with more carbon and is
reduced to carbon monoxide CO. This reaction is important as CO is the main
reducing agent.
CO2 (g) + C (s) → 2CO (g)
Reaction 3 The most important reaction that then occurs is the reduction of the ore by carbon
monoxide.
Fe2O3 (s) + 3CO (g) → 2Fe (l) + 3CO2 (g)
4 The molten iron produced settles at the bottom of the furnace where it can be tapped off as a liquid
as the temperature at the bottom of the furnace is higher than the melting point of iron.
ST JOSEPH INT. SCHOOL CHEMISTRY FARHANA ISLAM
5 One of the major impurities in iron ore is sand (silica / SiO2). The limestone added to the furnace
helps to remove this impurity.
Reaction 4 The limestone CaCO 3 undergoes thermal decomposition at the high
temperatures in the furnace to produce lime (calcium oxide / CaO, which is a
basic oxide) and carbon dioxide gas.
CaCO3 (s) → CaO (s) + CO2 (g)
Reaction 5 The lime (CaO, basic oxide) produced then reacts with silica (SiO2, acidic oxide)
to form slag (calcium silicate / CaSiO3).
CaO (s) + SiO2 (s) → CaSiO3 (l)
6 The slag formed is also molten and it flows down the furnace and settles as a separate layer on
top of molten iron. It does not mix with the molten iron. It is less dense and so floats on top of the
molten iron. The slag and the iron are tapped off separately.
7 When solidified, the slag is used in concrete for buildings and to make the top surfaces of
roads.
The hot waste gases escape from the top of the furnace. The gases are used in heat exchangers
to transfer heat to the incoming air. This helps reduce the energy costs of the process.
Diagram
The iron produced in the blast furnace is only about 95% pure. The impurities are mainly carbon, but they
also include sulfur, silicon and phosphorus. Most of the iron produced in the blast furnace is taken and
purified further, and then turned into various forms of steel. Steels are alloys of iron and a defined amount
of carbon, often with other transition metals added depending on the type of steel required.
