Chemistry In Industry & Technology

CHEMISTRY IN INDUSTRY &

TECHNOLOGY

Eric Bitting

Iron Steel & Aluminium

Sources of Iron

Iron (Fe)/ Iron Ore is mined from ground deposits that have been down at least 1.5 billion years ago. Iron oxides such as Magnetite, Hematite,

and others are what make up Iron.The Iron Oxides are put in a blast furnace to

make Iron. Most of the Iron mined come from

Australia and Brazil

Source of Iron: History

The Deposits in the Earth come from blue-green algae releasing oxygen, The iron formed when the algae went through cycles of blooms and busts (cycles of release and decay of the algae’s oxygen).

These cycles though the billions of years contributed to the formation of Magnetite(Fe2 O3) or Hematite(Fe3 O4) .

Blast Furnace

http://www.macarthurcoal.com.au/Portals/0/Mac%20Coal/Blast%20Furnace%20-%20PCI%20diagram.jpghttp://www.corusgroup.com/file_source/Images/Functions/Education/PictureGallery/BlastFurnaceAtNight.jpg

Blast Furnace

A blast furnace is used to purify iron oxides into Iron doing basically what its name implies:The Iron Ore is put in the furnace and

heated up where through a series of chemical reactions removes the oxygen from the Iron Ore and transforms it into a pure form of Iron.

Reaction Reduction of Iron Ore

The reactions where the oxygen is removed goes as followed:

1) 3 Fe2O3 + CO = CO2 + 2 Fe3O4 Begins at 850° F

2) Fe3O4 + CO = CO2 + 3 FeO Begins at 1100° F

3) FeO + CO = CO2 + Fe or FeO + C = CO + Fe Begins at 1300° F

From Iron to Steel Even though the Iron has been purified from the

iron ore, it can once again be purified. Greater purified Iron is Steel. Steel is made

when the Iron has been heated to about 870°C (1700°F)When the Iron is heated to make Steel, the impurities

like Silica and Phosphorous will float to the top and is considered the waste product of metal works, Slag.

Steel is widely used because it is stronger than Iron.The strength increase is due to the lack of the

Impurities.

Iron to Steel

Steel producing plants use the basic Oxygen Conversion Method over the Open-Heath method due to the increase speed. The Basic Oxygen Conversion Method is

used because it is about ten times faster than the Open-Heath Furnace.

Uses of Iron and Steel

Iron is mostly used as a commercial product in Cruise ship hulls due to its resistance to Temperatures and Pressure.

It is also used for cooking utensils like Cast Iron Skillets and outdoor decoration like Wrought Iron Seats since wrought iron is the least like version of iron to rust.

Steel is used primarily as an infrastructure material to build bridges and buildings.

Basic Oxygen Conversion High-Purity oxygen blows through the

impure iron which lowers the levels of Carbon, Silica, Manganese, and Phosphorous.

Fluxes, which are cleaning agents are used to aid in reducing the phosphorous and Sulfur levels.

Basic Oxygen Conversion

Alloys Alloys are mixtures of two or more metals or

non-metals are melted together and for the metals known as, alloys.Many of the materials we use today in building and

manufacturing are alloys.Much of our Jewelry are alloys, gold that has a karat

number ex: 10 karat gold, is not plain gold, it is gold with a mixture of other metals but has the texture and appearance of gold.

Another example of an alloy is Aluminum, it is a melting pot of over 270 different minerals that are melted together, the main mineral of Aluminum is Bauxite Ore.

Alloying altering properties of Metals When metals and/or non-metals are

melted together to form and alloy it changes the properties of the main material.When Iron is alloyed the product, Steel, is

much stronger than Iron.Also another example of an Alloy is Staballoy,

this mixture of Uranium and Titanium, it also has increased strength and is used for Military kinetic energy armor penetrating munitions, and for mining and drilling.

Electrolysis of Alumina The electrolysis of alumina is done within a

graphite tank where the graphite lining is the cathode, and the anode are the graphite rods hanging in the molten mass.

The electrolyte is alumina dissolved in fused cryolite (Na3AlF6) and fluospar (Na3AlF6)The cryolite lowers the alumina’s melting point to

95°C and the fluospar increases the fluidity of the alumina so that the Aluminum can sink to the bottom.

Once the electrical current passes through, the aluminum is collected at the cathode.

Reaction of the Alumina

  IONIZATION OF ALUMINA:          2Al2O3 => 6O-2 + 4Al+3

    AT THE CATHODE:          4Al+3 + 12e- => 4Al    AT THE ANODE:          6O-2 => 3O2 + 12e-

          C + O2 =>CO2

Aluminium Uses

Aluminium is mainly used in the transportation industry for example cars and aircraft.

Aluminium is used because it is light weight, has a great strength to weight ratio.

Aluminum is also used in power lines since it has a low density and can transmit energy over long distances, longer than copper.

Environmental Impact

To produce and purify Iron and Aluminium takes a lot of energy and produces a lot of dangerous materials.Along with increased CO2 and CO materials

such as slag are produce and are very dangerous.

We get aluminum, Iron, Steel, and other materials for production and construction, we increase the carbon footprint even more.

The Oil Industry

Oil Usage

Oil is used everywhere in everyday life.We refine Crude Oil into fuel for vehicles

and for power plants, lubricants for vehicles, Rubber for Vehicles, Fuel for heating, plastics for storage, and Asphalt for roads.

Chemistry of Oil

Oil or Petroleum is a mix of a large amount of hydrocarbons.

Here the hydrocarbon is a molecule formation of Hydrogen and Carbon atoms. Hydrogen is white, Carbon is black in this diagram.

The basic formula of a hydrocarbon goes as: CnH2n+2

Catalytic, Thermal, and Steam Cracking

Cracking is breaking Large Hydrocarbons into smaller ones.

Catalytic Cracking is when a catalysis is added to speed up the cracking process.

Thermal Cracking is when you heat large hydrocarbons at high temperatures until they break apart.

Steam Cracking is when high temperature steam is used to break ethane, butane, and naptha into ethylene and benzene.

Additional Polymer

Polymers

Polymers are molecule combinations most noted as being a modern word for Plastic but really is the term used for all repeating covalent chemical bonds.

Catalysts

Heterogeneous CatalystsOne or more of the reactants are adsorbed on to the surface of

the catalyst at active sites. “Adsorption” is where something sticks to a surface. It isn't the same as absorption where one substance is taken up within the structure of another.

There is a sort of interaction between the surface of the catalyst and the reactant molecules which makes them more reactive. This might involve an actual reaction with the surface, or some weakening of the bonds in the attached molecules.

The reaction happens. At this stage, both of the reactant molecules might be attached to the surface, or one might be attached and hit by the other one moving freely in the gas or liquid. The product molecules are “desorbed”. Desorption simply means that the product molecules break away. This leaves the active site available for a new set of molecules to attach to and react.

Heterogeneous Catalysts

Heterogeneous catalysts involves some solid reacting with a solid or liquid.Examples of heterogeneous catalysisThe hydrogenation of a carbon-carbon

double bondThe simplest example of this is the reaction

between ethene and hydrogen in the presence of a nickel catalyst.

CH2 = CH2 + H2 Ni CH3CH3

Heterogeneous Catalysts

A good use of heterogeneous catalysts are present in how it is used in vehicles catalytic converters which reduce dangerous emissions.

Homogeneous Catalysts This has the catalyst in the same phase as the

reactants. Everything will be present as a gas or contained in a single liquid phase.

Persulphate ions (peroxodisulphate ions), S2O8-2, are

very powerful oxidizing agents. Iodide ions are very easily oxidised to iodine. And yet the reaction between them in solution in water is very slow.

S2O8-2 + 2I-1 2SO4

-2 + I2

Homogeneous Catalysts

This particular catalyst is bad due to how it can breakdown and reform Ozone (O3) Which causes issues with the atmosphere.

Deciding a Catalysts

Factors that are important when deciding to choose a catalysts are:The state of the substances; solid, liquid, or

gas.The phases of the reactants

Fuel Cells and Rechargeable Batteries

Hydrogen-Oxygen Fuel Cell A Hydrogen-Oxygen fuel cell works by

pumping hydrogen into the cell from the anode and oxygen into the cell from the cathode.

A Platinum catalyst affects the hydrogen by splitting it into two parts, a proton and electron.

A Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) allows the charged ions to move from the cathode to the anode this creates the electricity.

Finally the hydrogen ions and Oxygen for together to get the product of water.

Rechargeable Batteries

Rechargeable batteries work through a reversible chemical reaction with the battery cell it self.

Fuel Cells and Rechargeable Batteries The differences is that the hydrogen-

oxygen fuel cell battery cannot be recharged, where as a rechargeable battery can be.

The similarity is that they both have to use a very efficient way to provide an electrical source.

Liquid Crystals

Liquid Crystal Liquid crystals are also not quite liquid and not

quite solid. Physically, they are observed to flow like liquids, but they have some properties of crystalline solids. Liquid crystals can be considered to be crystals which have lost some or all of their positional order, while maintaining their full orientation.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale.

Nanotechnology is useful mainly in the medical field to directly affect a specific cell that may be diseased

Nanotubes

Nanotubes are tiny tube that consists of thousands of hexagons that are formed together to create a long, needle like tube.

Citations http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/iron_ore/ http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-iron-ore.htm http://www.steel.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Articles3&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay

.cfm&CONTENTID=25317 http://science.howstuffworks.com/iron4.htm http://www.citycollegiate.com/aluminium3.htm http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining5.htm http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/catalysis/introduction.html http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/fuelcells/fc_types.html http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-do-rechargeable-that http://www.lci.kent.edu/lc.html http://www.research.ibm.com/topics/popups/serious/nano/html/nanotubes.html http://www.understandingnano.com/nanotubes-carbon.html