Water Topic: Using the Earth’s resources

Potable water: Other methods of water treatment

• Is safe for humans to drink
• has low levels of dissolved salts and What do you do if you don’t live in a sopping wet country
microbes. like Britain? 
• Is NOT pure – due to the low levels
of dissolved salts in it. There’s 2 Option 1 - Distillation
Pure water vs potable water options; both
Pure water Potable water are forms of
Contains ONLY water Contains water desalination
molecules molecules AND
dissolved substances

Water Treatment process This is the

way we
treat our Sea water is boiled and
water in then the steam is cooled
Britain then it’s condensed.

Option 2 – Reverse osmosis Drawbacks

Main
Distillation
overall • Lots of energy
stages needed to boil
water

Filtration – This removes solids. The water is passed Reverse osmosis

through filter beds • Lots of energy
needed to
Sea water is pressurised through a provide pressure
Sterilisation – This kills microbes. Small amounts of semi-permeable membrane. Water
chlorine are added. One can also use ozone or UV light molecules are small enough to pass.
But dissolved substances aren’t.
 Key stages in What happens at this stage
Waste water treatment water treatment

Screening and grit Removes large solids

removal
Sedimentation Separation of human waste and other
organic materials from waste water –
this is the effluent
Aerobic treatment Air passed through effluent- this kills
of effluent the harmful bacteria

Anaerobic treatment In the absence of air, bacteria produce

of sludge methane from sludge

Alternative methods of extracting metals (HT) Electrolysis Displacement

Metal ores are a limited resource. Some metals have to be mined from low-grade ores. Some top- What Positive and Scrap iron is
notch chemists have come up with ways to extract these in-demand metals (in oppose to more happens negative placed into
traditional methods). These two methods are chiefly used to extract copper. electrodes are solution. Iron is
placed into more reactive
solution. than the
Phytomining Bioleaching Positive copper
ions (Cu2+) are
dissolved
copper and
attracted to therefore
Bacteria is used on copper ore. They make insoluble negative displaces it.
Grow plants in soil containing copper copper compounds into soluble copper compounds.
compounds. Burn the plants after they’ve grown. electrode
This product of the bacteria is called the leachate..

Ash from plant ash is high in copper compounds. The soluble copper compounds are dissolved in
Dissolve these copper compounds in water water

Use scrap iron to displace out the copper OR Use scrap iron to displace out the copper OR
electrolysis to extract the copper electrolysis to extract the copper

Et voila! COPPER METAL is made. Et voila! COPPER METAL is made

 Corrosion and its prevention (Chemistry only)
Alloys as useful materials
Most metals around us are alloys Corrosion is the destruction of materials by chemical
reactions with substances in the atmosphere.
Alloy Main metal Other Uses and properties
metals/elements Sacrificial protection
contained • More reactive metal attached to metal
• The more reactive metal will corrode rather than
 Bronze Copper  Tin   Statues, decorative objects
Hard, resistant to corrosion, resistant the less reactive metal.
to corrosion • E.g. Zn or Mg blocks are attached to the hulls/body
of ships to prevent corroding
 Brass  Copper  Zinc  Door handles, instruments • Mg is attached to steel pipelines and railway lines
Hard, resistant to corrosion, to prevent corrosion
antibacterial
 Gold alloy  Gold  Silver, copper, zinc  Jewellery, electronics, dentistry Surface coating
Resistant to corrosion, excellent • A protective layer is put on the metal. I.e. paint or
conductor of electricity a film of plastic.
 Steels  Iron Carbon, nickel,  Cutlery, car bodies, building material, • E.g. Grease oil for bike chains,
chromium tools • plastic coating – in fridges,
High carbon steel – strong but brittle • metal coating – electroplating e.g. 1p and 2p coins,
Low carbon steel – soft and bendable
Stainless steel – contains nickel and Galvinising – mixture of both methods
chromium – hard and doesn’t • Steel can be galvanised – Steel is coated in a layer
corrode easily.
of zinc. This works because the zinc is more
reactive than steel
 Aluminium  Aluminium  Magnesium  Aeroplanes
alloys Strong but light (low density).
Resistant to corrosion. Rusting experiment This experiment
shows that
BOTH water
Pure metals Alloys and air are
They are too soft for many uses. They These are mixed with other metals to make needed for iron
have regular layers. Atoms are the alloys. They become harder. (because they to rust.
same size – layers slide over each have different sized atoms – layers don’t slide
other easily. over each other as easily. Rusting is
corrosion
specific to
iron/steel
 Using Earth’s resources and Reducing, reusing and recycling
sustainable development
Reduce.
We use lots of these resources
• Metals
Sustainable development • Glass
is development that meets the • Plastic
needs of current generations • Metal
without compromising the • Clay ceramics
ability of future generations to • Building materials
meet their own needs. However, we need to be mindful of all the energy
and raw materials that are used to produce these.
E.g. Mining rocks and ores has an environmental
Renewable resource Finite resource impact because the they need quarrying.
A resource that we can A resource that cannot
replace once we use it be replaced once it has
Reuse
been used.
Some products such as glass bottles can be reused. Obviously, they
Chemistry helps develop new processes to ease the need to be collected, cleaned and redistributed before reuse.
dependence on natural ones.
Clothing – Man-made Gore-Tex, nylon, microfibres, Material How are these recycled?
etc. are blended with natural ones (cotton, wool, silk, Recycle
etc). Certain materials Glass • Separated into different
can be recycled. colours
Improving processes and products- E.g. better • Crushed
fertilisers or making processes more efficient. The materials are
• Melted
New products – Making new products with new uses. usually- collected, • Remoulded
E.g. medicines remoulded or
recast into new Plastics • Separated into different types
Natural Resources from What humans use the products. of plastic
the Earth give us Earth’s resources for • Melted
• Food • Food • Remoulded
• Timber • Warmth
• Clothing • Shelter Metals • Separated
• Fuel • Transport • Melted
• Recast
 Misusing LCAs Exam question focus
Life cycle assessment (LCA) Mischievous companies
or manufacturers may
The specification says you need to be
What are LCAs? choose not to disclose a able to compare the LCAs of a paper
LCAs are carried out to assess the environmental 100% accurate LCA report and plastic shopping bags. Below is an
impact of products. if their product/process: example of these LCAs.
These stages are considered • creates too much
• Extracting and processing raw materials pollution; Plastic bag Paper
• Manufacturing, packing and distributing • all waste ends up in bag
• Use during its lifetime landfill;
• • their products aren’t Raw material Crude oil or Wood
Disposal at end of product’s life. E.g. recycling,
recyclable, etc. natural gas
reuse, landfill, etc.
These companies may
misuse these LCAs to Energy used in J 2.5 2.8
What is considered have a better public
Mass of solid 19 69
for a image or appear more waste
product/process’s environmental in the
LCA? media than they actually Mass of CO2 0.34 0.73
• Use of and are. produced in kg
sustainability of
raw materials Volume of fresh 301 5,094
water used in
• Energy usage at dm3
all stages
• Use of water at all
stages An example of an exam question and how you could tackle it could be….
• Production and A company stated: ‘A Life Cycle Assessment shows that using plastic bags has less environmental impact than using
disposal of waste paper bags’. Evaluate this statement. Use your knowledge and the information from the table above. (6 marks)
products and
pollutants at all To get all 6 marks, your answer should compare things like: • Finish off with a conclusion!!! Say which one
stages • Whether the raw materials are finite or renewable is has less of an environmental impact. Don’t
• Transportation resources sit on the fence. For the sake of ease, just side
and distribution • Energy usage with the one that from the data and your own
at all stages • Biodegradability knowledge has more going for it.
• Carbon neutrality – (trees can be replanted) • Even though plastic and paper bag LCAs are
• Waste mentioned in the spec, you may be given
• Amount of CO22 given off something else to compare and evaluate, so
• Volume of fresh water used use the same skills to tackle the question.
 Ceramics, polymers and composites Polymers

Glass
Type of glass  Borosilicate glass  Soda-lime glass
What it’s   Sand Sand
made from Boron trioxide Sodium carbonate
Calcium carbonate
Uses •  Lab glassware •  Windows
• Cooking items – • Containers –
pan glass lids, bottles, jars, etc
measuring jugs Different polymers have different properties depending upon:
• Which monomers they’re made from
Properties/ot •  Higher melting •  Most widely-used
• The conditions used to make them
her notes point than soda- glass
lime glass.
Same monomer, different properties example
LDPE HDPE
• Lots of branches • Not branched,
• Low density, • Harder
Composites • polymer chains can’t • Higher softening point,
Composite Matrix/ Reinforcement Uses pack closely • Branches are packed closer
material binder fibres/fragments together
 Concrete Cement Crushed rock and  Building
and sand material
water 
• Polymerised In high • Polymerised in low pressure
 Fibreglass Polymer Glass fibes   Building
pressure
material,
storage tanks
 Plywood Glue  Wood fibres   Building
Ceramics
material
Clay ceramics, including pottery and bricks, are made
 Carbon Polymer  Carbon fibres/carbon Sports by shaping wet clay and then heating in a furnace.
fibre nanotubes equipment  Properties : Hard, unreactive and resistant to heat
 The Haber process (Chemistry only)

Le Chatelier’s Principle
Any change made to a reaction which is in
equilibrium, will result in the equilibrium
position moving to minimise the change made Fritz Haber – Mostly
serious but knows
The Haber process is used to manufacture ammonia, how to party
which can be used to make nitrogen-based fertilisers.
Catalyst – Finely
divided iron is used.
Here’s the low-down of all the key points of the Haber process:
It is finely dived to
have a high surface
Notes/info
area which speeds
Raw Hydrogen From reaction steam up the rate of
with methane reaction. It is cheap.
materials It doesn’t change
the position of the
Nitrogen From air
equilibrium
Equation Equation N2(g) + 3H2(g) 2NH3(g)
Pressure- 200 atm used because a higher pressure favours the RHS
RHS reaction = exothermic reaction so there’s a higher yield of NH33 produced.
LHS reaction = endothermic
Why? - because there are fewer moles of product. The equilibrium opposes
Reaction is reversible higher pressures, meaning higher yield is achieved.
But- If the pressure was any higher, it’d be too expensive to maintain.

Catalyst iron It is finely divided Temperature- 450 ooC used because a higher temperature favours the RHS
reaction so there’s a higher yield of NH33 produced.
Temperature 450oC Compromise Why? - The RHS is exothermic. A VERY high temperature would favour the
temperature endothermic LHS reaction - to oppose the increased temperature. A VERY
low temperature favours the RHS reaction to oppose the temperature
Pressure 200atm Compromise pressure decrease. Also, a very low temperature would make the rate of reaction to
slow. The compromise of having a ‘not too high’ and ‘not too low’
temperature is settled with.
NPK fertilisers (Chemistry only)
NPK fertilisers are Required practical 8 – water purification
classed as
formulations Part 1 – Purification of sea water by
A fertiliser is a substance that increases because they distillation
agricultural productivity. I.e. They help contain N, P and K
crops grow bigger and faster and so will in specific ratios 1. Collect 50cm33 of sea water – use
increase the yield. to one another. measuring cyclinder. Put water in
However, conical flask
NPK fertilisers contain a mixture of different 2. Attach delivery tube to conical flask
soluble compounds of Nitrogen (N), formulations
phosphurous (P) and potassium (K). – see diagram
(with N, P&K in 3. Set up equipment as shown.
different, but yet
4. Heat the water until you have
Some of the salt compounds used in specific ratios) are
collected about 5cm of distilled
NPK fertilisers come from: used for different
• soil types. BUT, all water.
Chemical reactions (acid-base
reactions) of these fertilisers
• Mining rocks (which contain these ALL contain
salts/compounds) N,P&K. Part 2 – Analysing different water samples

This table shows how 1. Place the water sample in the conical flask.
Base acid Salt
different ammonium Set up the apparatus for distillation as
salts, used in fertilisers Ammonia Nitric acid Ammonium shown in the diagram.
nitrate
that are manufactured 2. Heat the water using the Bunsen burner
through chemical Ammonia Sulphuric Ammonium until it boils. Then reduce the heat so that
reactions acid sulphate the water boils gently.
Ammonia Phosphoric Ammonium 3. The distilled water will collect in the cooled
This table shows salts used
acid chloride test tube. Collect about 1 cm depth of water
in fertilisers that are
mined . in this way, then stop heating.
4. Analyse the water you have distilled with
Compound Source Method of extraction cobalt chloride paper.

Potassium chloride Mined Dissolved and used directly

Potassium sulphate Mined Dissolved and used directly

Phosphate rock Mined Reacted with nitric acid or
sulphuric to make soluble salts.