In most cases, the mined ore must first be carried to a mill. Still in large boulder-sized pieces, it is transported in trucks, in railroad cars or in a pipeline. It is brought to a crusher, where it is crushed into small pieces.
The small pieces are mixed with water until they form a chunky soup called slurry. The slurry is poured into a ball mill. A ball mill is a barrel-shaped container that rotates while holding steel balls that clash together to grind the ore into tiny pieces. These pieces are small enough to pass through a screen with 10,000 openings per square inch.
Extraction
Extraction of copper by smelting process
The method of extracting copper from ore rock has been improved with modern technology, but the ideas behind it developed directly from past experience
Following steps are involved in the extraction of copper:
Concentration
The finely crushed ore is concentrated by Froth-Floatation process. The finely crushed ore is suspended in water containing a little amount of pine oil. A blast of air is passed through the suspension. The particles get wetted by the oil and float as a froth, which is skimmed. The gangue sinks to the bottom.
Roasting
The concentrated ore is then roasted in a furnace in the presence of a current of air. Sulphur is oxidized to SO2 and impurities of arsenous and antimony are
removed as volatile oxides.
The following reaction takes place.
2CuFeS2 + O2 ➔ Cu2S + 2FeS + SO2
Cuprous sulphide is further oxidized into their oxides.
2Cu2S + 3O2 ➔ 2Cu2O + 2SO2
smelting
The roasted ore is mixed with coke and silica (sand) SiO2 and is introduced in to a blast furnace. The hot air is blasted and FeO is converted in to ferrous silicate (FeSiO3).
Cu2O + FeS ➔ Cu2S + FeO
Bessemerization
Copper metal is extracted from molten matte through bessemerization . The matte is introduced in to Bessemer converter which uphold by tuyers. The air is blown through the molten matte. Blast of air converts Cu2S partly into Cu2O which reacts with remaining Cu2S to give molten copper.
2Cu2S + 3O2 ➔ 2Cu2O + 2SO2
2Cu2O + Cu2S➔ 6Cu + SO2
PLAN
For this investigation I am going to investigate how the laboratory and industry produce pure metal.
For comparing the laboratory and industrial process of getting pure copper, I will do the following things:
- I am going to research on how the industry produce pure metal and what equipment they use
- I will look at the differences and similarities between the lab and industry
- Also I will look at the cost at which industry and laboratory produce metal with
I will identify that why we used different equipment in the laboratory then in industry, finally I will say about the effect of economic and environmental factors, which affect the production of copper and then will write an evaluation.
The laboratory process
Apparatus
Beaker
Balance
Spatula
Carbon Rod
Measuring cylinder
Ammeter
2 crocodile clips
Sulphuric acid
Wire
Power supply
Pieces of cardboard
Method
I will weigh 2g of malachite into a beaker. Then I will measure 50 of sulphuric acid and add it slowly to the malachite. I will weigh the carbon electrodes. These will be placed in the solution of copper sulphate in the beaker and connected to an electrical circuit in the experiment, which was connected to the power supply. I will set the power supply to 2 volts and pass the current through the solution for 20 min. Then I will turn of the power and remove the carbon electrodes and weigh them. I will calculate the amount of copper that has been formed on the electrode. I will do this experiment for 3 times, when I get the results from the experiment then I will record it in table. I will calculate the yield of the malachite for each result.
The comparison between the industry and laboratory process
Similarities
Differences
Economic effects and environmental effects of industrial process
Copper mining is the process, which made many countries transform to the modern industrial economy. The energy efficiency resulting from the use of copper in high efficiency motors, electrical transformers, underground power lines, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, electric vehicle etc has a significant impact on the release of greenhouse gases resulting from the generation and use of fossil fuel based electrical power. Copper helps the economy in different ways:
It provides jobs for thousands of people.
Copper industries help to build local government states.
Copper is a critical component in supporting the advanced technology and it will contribute to even greater advances in the future.
Copper mining is a major environmental problem and its also altering activity. Processing operation of copper production produces large quantities of waste that leads to contamination. Huge amount of dust is generated along with gases, and waste rocks. The large quantities of gases that are produced by the industry can harm both workers and people who live closer.
Evaluation
I faced some difficulties in the beginning of the assessment because the information that was required to compare the industrial process with laboratory process was hard to find. At first I tried a lot to have a contact with the company, which produce copper but then I didn’t had any reply from them. Then I searched on the Internet and found how they extract copper in the industry.
The things that I learned from this assignment:
- The way the industry extract copper
- The difference between the laboratory process and industrial process
- The factors that affect the copper production in industry
- The effects copper production on environment.
My weakness in this assignment was that I couldn’t find the information at the beginning and wasted some time on it. My strength in this assignment was that I could compare the industrial and laboratory process well.
I could improve my work by looking at more resources other and not waste a lot of time on researching.
