In this method, the concentrated ore is oxidised by heating it with excess of oxygen in a suitable furnace below the melting point of the metal.

Sodium cyanide and sodium carbonate.

Iron, Lead and Copper

1. This process is called as Hall-Heroult process.
Cathode: In this method, electrolysis is carried out in an iron tank lined with carbon which acts as the cathode.
Anode: The carbon blocks immersed in the electrolyte acts as a anode.
Eletrolyte: A 20% solution of alumina, obtained from the bauxite ore is mixed with molten Cryolite and is taken in the electrolysis chamber.
2. About 10% calcium chloride is also added to the solution.
3. Here Calcium chloride helps to lower the melting point of the mixture.
Temperature: The fused mixture is maintained at a temperature of above 1270 K.
4. The chemical reactions involved in this process as follows
(a) Ionisaiton of alumina: \({ A }l_{ 2 }{ O }_{ 3 }\longrightarrow { 2Al }^{ 3+ }+{ 3O }^{ 2- }\)
(b) Reaction at cathode: \(2{ Al }^{ 3+ }_{(melt)}+{ 6e }^{ - }\longrightarrow { Al }_{ (l) }\)
(c) Reaction at anode: \(6{ O }^{2-}_{(melt)}\longrightarrow { 3O }_{ 2 }+{ 12e }^{ - }\)
5. Since carbon acts as anode the following reaction also takes place
(a) \({ C }_{ (s) }+{ O }^{ 2- }_{(melt)}\longrightarrow CO+{ 2e }^{ - }\)
(b) \({ C }_{ (s) }+{ 2O }^{ 2- }_{(melt)}\longrightarrow { CO }_{ 2 }+{ 4e }^{ - }\)
6. Due to the above two reactions, anodes are slowly consumed during the electrolysis.
7. The pure aluminium is formed at the cathode. The net electrolysis reaction can be written as
\({ 4Al }^{ 3+ }_{(melt)}+{ 6O }^{ 2- }_{(melt)}+{ 3C }_{ (s) }\longrightarrow { 4Al }_{ (l) }+{ 3CO }_{ 2(g) }\)

This method is commonly used to concentrate sulphide ores such as galena (PbS), zinc blende (ZnS) etc.
In this method, the metallic ore particles which are preferentially wetted by oil can be separated from gangue.

(i) Alumina is separated from silica in a bauxite ore through Baeyer's process, in which bauxite ore is concentrated by the method of leaching or chemical separation.
(ii) Chemical method is employed in case where the ore is to be in a very pure form, e.g., aluminium extraction. Bauxite (Al₂O₃), an ore of aluminium, contains SiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ as impurities. When bauxite ore is treated with NaOH, the Al₂O₃ goes into solution as sodium meta aluminate leaving behind the undissolved impurities [Fe₂O₃, SiO₂, Fe(OH)_3' etc.], which are then filtered off.
\({ Al }_{ 2 }{ O }_{ 3 }+{ 2NaOH }\longrightarrow \underset { Sod.meta.aliminate\\ (In \ solution \ form) }{ { 2NaAlO }_{ 2 }+{ H }_{ 2 }O } \)
(iii) The filtrate (containing sodium meta aluminate) on dilution, and stirring gives a precipitate of aluminium hydroxide, which is filtered, and ignited to get pure alumina.
\({ NaAlO }_{ 2 }+2{ H }_{ 2 }O\longrightarrow \underset { Ppt }{ { Al(OH) }_{ 3 } } +NaOH\)
\(2Al\left( OH \right) _{ 3 }\overset { \Delta }{ \longrightarrow } \underset { Pure }{ { Al }_{ 2 }{ O }_{ 3 } } +3{ H }_{ 2 }O\)

(i) Ellingham diagram is constructed based only on thermodynamic considerations. It gives information about the thermodynamic feasibility of a reaction. It does not tell anything about the rate of the reaction. More over, it does not give any idea about the possibility of other reactions that might be taking place.
(ii) The interpretation of \(\triangle\)G is based on the assumption that the reactants are in equilibrium with the product which is not always true.

(i) Leaching of sulphide ores such as ZnS, PbS etc., can be done by treating them with hot aqueous sulphuric acid
\(2Zn{ S }_{ (s) }+{ 2H }_{ 2 }{ SO }_{ 4(aq) }+{ O }_{ 2(g) }\longrightarrow { 2ZnSO }_{ 4(aq) }+2{ S }_{ (s) }+{ H }_{ 2 }O\)
(ii) In this process the insoluble sulphide is converted into soluble sulphate and elemental sulphur

a) Both assertion and reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion

d) Both (A) and (R) are false

Stainless steel is an important alloy of Aluminum