Using Resources Flashcards
What is potable water
Water that is safe to drink
Methods of water treatment
- Filtration
- Sterilisation -> chlorine, UV, or ozone
2 methods of desalination (removal of salt from water)
- Distillation -> sea water is heated until it boils, and the steam is pure water, the steam is cooled and condensed to make potable water. Costs energy to boil water.
- Reverse Osmosis -> water is passed through a semi-permeable membrane at high pressure. Costs energy to create this high pressure. Cheaper than distillation.
Waste water treatment
- Waste water flows in sewers
- Screening and grit removal removes large solids from waste water
- Primary sedementation tanks - organic waste sinks to the bottom as sludge. Remaining water (effluent) is taken from the top)
- in Aeration tanks (air is pumped through), good bacteria kill harmful bacteria
- In final setting tanks, good bacteria sink to the bottom as sludge. Treated water returns to environment.
- Sludge gets anaeorobically digested by bacteria, producing methane
- Methane is burned for heat and electricity generation
Alternative ways of extracting metals
Phytomining: uses plants to absorb metal compounds through roots in soil containing such compounds. These plants are burned and the ash produced contains metal compounds. This ash is dissolved in acid to form a solution containing copper compounds. Better for environment - less digging etc
Bioleaching: uses bacteria to produce soluble metal compounds from insoluble metal compounds. Uses low-grade metal ores near to surface
Leaching - uses dilute acid to produce soluble metal compounds from insoluble metal compounds. Uses low-grade metal ores near to surface
- The products of these 2 different methods leads to metal compounds being dissolved in water and either via electrolysis or a displacement reaction the pure metal is obtained.
Life Cycle Assessment
The impact of a product on the environment throughout its life
- the 4 stages of the cycle:
Raw Materials
- using up limited resources such as ores
and crude oil damaging habitats through
quarrying, mining, or felling trees
Manufacture
- using up land for factories
- the use of machines and people
Usage
- The impact of a product on the environment during its use depends on the type of product
Disposal
- using up land for landfill sites
- whether any or all of the product can be
recycled or reused
What is corrosion
Oxidisation of a metal
Rusting
When iron or steel reacts with oxygen and water
Preventing corrosion
- sacrificial protection -> iron can be protected from rusting if it is in contact with a more reactive metal, such as zinc (galvanising)
- galvanising -> when iron is coated in zinc, stops oxygen and water reaching the iron
- painting, greasing
Uses of alloys
Gold: jewellery
Bronze (copper and tin)
Brass (copper and zinc)
Examples of composites
Carbon fibre and fibreglass (both very hard but brittle)
Ceramics
Soda-lime glass: made by heating sand, sodium carbonate and sandstone
Borosilicate glass: made from sand and boron trioxide -> higher melting point than soda lime
Haber process conditions
- iron catalyst
- high temps (450*C)
- high pressure (200atm)
Reactants of the Haber process
Nitrogen (from the air) and hydrogen (from methane/natural gas)
Stages of the Haber process
Stage 1: H2 and N2 gases are pumped into the compressor through pipes
Stage 2: The gases are compressed and heated
Stage 3: Some of the hydrogen and nitrogen react to form ammonia
Stage 4: Unreacted H2 and N2 and product ammonia pass into a cooling tank -> the ammonia is condensed and removed to pressurised storage vessels
Stage 5: The unreacted H2 and N2 gases are recycled back into the system