C10 Reuse and Recycling (page 162) Flashcards
What is Sustainable development?
It is an approach to development that takes account of the needs of present society while not damaging the lives of future generations.
As well as using resources, extracing resources can be unsustainable, why?
it is due to the amount of energy used and wast produced. Processing the resources into useful materials such as glass or bricks, can be unsustainable too, as the processes often use energy that’s made from finite resources.
(finite means having bounds or limits)
What is one way of reducing the use of finite resources?
for people to use less. This doesn’t just reduce the use of that resource but also anything needed to product it.
Chemists can develop and adapt processcess that use lower amounts of finite resources and reduce damage to the envirement, give some examples?
Chemists have developed catalysts that reduce the amount of energy required for certain industrial processes.
Copper is a finite resource, how can its sustainability be improved?
by extracting it from low-grade ores (ores without much copper in).
(low grade ores are those with a low concentration of metals).
What is Bioleaching?
Bioleaching is bacteria, it is used to convert copper compounds in the ore into soluble copper compounds, separating out the copper from the ore in the process.
The Leachate (the solution produced by the process) contains copper ions, which can be extracted e.g. by electrolysis (see pg 135) or displacement (pg 134) with a more reactive etal. e.g. scrap iron.
What is Phytomining?
This involved growing plants in soil that contains copper. The plants can’t use or ger rid of the copper so it gradually builds up in the leaves. The plants can be harvested, dried and burned in a furnace. The ash contains soluble copper compounds from which copper can be extracted by electrolysis or displacement using scrap iron.
Traditional methods of copper mining are pretty damaging to the environment. These new methods of extraction (Bioleaching, Phytomining), have what impace on the environment?
They have a much smaller impact on the environment but the disadvantage is that they’re slow.
Is Recycling Metals important?
yes
Recylcing is a way to reduce our ned for copper rich ores.
Mining and extracting metals takes up lots of energy, where do mose of them come from?
most comes from buring fossil fuels.
Recycling metals often uses much less energy than is needed to min and extract new metals why is this?
it conserves the finite amount of each metal in the earth and cuts down on the amount of waste getting sent to landfill.
How are Metals usually recycles?
by melting them and then casting them into the shape of the new product.
Depending on what the metal will be used for after recycling, the amount of separation required for recyclable metals can change. Give some examples?
waste steel and iron can be kept together as they can both be added to iron. Iron can be kept together as they can both be added to iron in a blast furnace to reduce the amount of iron ore required.
What is ‘a Blast Furnace’ used for?
it is used to extract iron from it’s ore at a high temperature using carbon.
Is Glass recycling sustainable, and why?
Yes by reducing the amount of energy needed to make new glass products, and also the amount of waste created when used glass is thrown away.
Glass bottles can often be reused without reshaping.
