Extracting metalsf rom ores (HT) Flashcards
How is copper obtainued usually ?
Using sulfuric acid to produce cooper sulfate solution before extracting the copper metal .
Smelting - copper ore is heted to a high temperture in a furnace with air to produce impure copper .
Disadvantages of smelting
Smelting and prufiying copper ore uses a larg amount og elerctiricty and energy
Costs a lot and wil cause pollution to the enivornment .
Why do we have to look for other altenratives than we usually use to extract copper ? What do we have to do ?
Copper ores are becoming scares so we have to extract copper from low grade ores .
What is a low - grade ore ? Whats are the disadvanatges
of extracitng copper this way
A low grade orce contains a small amount of copepr , so it is harder to extract the copper economically from these ores /
What are the two methods to extract copper from low grade ores ?
Bioleaching and phytomining
What is a disadvaatge of bioleaching ?
It is a slow process .
How does bioleaching work
Bacteria is mixed with the low grade ore
The bacteria carry out chemical reactions and produce a solution called leachate
The leachate contains the mtal compound we want .
How does phytoming work ?
Plants are gorwn on land containing the metal compounds that we want
The plats absorb the metal compound and concentrate it in their tissue
the plants are then harvested and burned
in the end the ash contains a relatively high conecntration of the metal compond we want .
What do we do after phytoming and bioleaching ?
To extract the metal form the compound ,
we can displace the copper by using iron (as iron is more reactive than copper )
Or electrolysis
What is electrolysis ?
breaking down a substance containing ions using electricity .
ADVANTAGES OF PHYTOMINING ANF BIO-LEACHING
both processes allow us to economically extract metals from low grade ores (important as copper is scarce )
These methods do not involve digging transport and disposing of large amount of rock unlike traditional mining .
when copper is purified by electrolysis , which electrode does the pure copper collect at , explain (2marks)
Metal ions are alawyas positivley chatged , therefore in eelctrolysis they are alaways attracted to and deposited in the negative electrode .
In Phytoming , how can the metal be extracted from the metal compound
Copper ions can be leached from the ash by adding sulfuric acid .
OR displacng the copper using scrap irona dnd then electrolysis .
How can copepr be extracted in bioleaching
u can displace the copper using scrap iron and then use electrolysis .
