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It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH) 3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(OH)), mixed with the two iron oxides goethite (FeO(OH)) and haematite (Fe 2 O 3), the aluminium clay mineral kaolinite (Al 2 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4) and small amounts of anatase (TiO ...
Bauxite forms by the weathering of aluminum-rich and silica-poor rocks in hot, humid, climates, at places with good drainage. Under the proper conditions, weathering disintegrates the aluminium silicate minerals, and dissolves and removes the silica, creating bauxite. The mined US bauxite deposits have all been in the southeastern United States.
The Bayer process is the principal industrial means of refining bauxite to produce alumina (aluminium oxide) and was developed by Carl Josef Bayer.Bauxite, the most important ore of aluminium, contains only 30–60% aluminium oxide (Al 2 O 3), the rest being a mixture of silica, various iron oxides, and titanium dioxide. [1]
Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an alumina refinery. This is an electrolytic process, so an aluminium smelter uses huge amounts of electric power; smelters tend to be located close to large power stations, often hydro-electric ones, in order to hold down costs and reduce the overall carbon footprint ...
It is obtained industrially by mining bauxite, a sedimentary rock rich in aluminium minerals. The discovery of aluminium was announced in 1825 by Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted. The first industrial production of aluminium was initiated by French chemist Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville in 1856.
Gibbsite, Al(OH) 3, is one of the mineral forms of aluminium hydroxide. It is often designated as γ-Al(OH) 3 [2]: 2 (but sometimes as α-Al(OH) 3 [3]). It is also sometimes called hydrargillite (or hydrargyllite). Gibbsite is an important ore of aluminium in that it is one of three main phases that make up the rock bauxite.
The elements that make up the rest of bauxite are also very useful. [9] Globally, 68 million tons of aluminum were mined in 2021. This aluminum is mostly used in vehicle production, construction, and packaging like cans and foil. The two largest bauxite producers are China and Australia. [8] Bauxite is mined with traditional strip mining ...
It occurs in many minerals, but its primary commercial source is bauxite, a mixture of hydrated aluminium oxides and compounds of other elements such as iron. Prior to the Hall–Héroult process, elemental aluminium was made by heating ore along with elemental sodium or potassium in a vacuum .