The Extraction Of Iron Page 4
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2
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4withstands high
titanium steel
titanium
gas turbines, spacecraft
temperatures
rock-breaking machinery,
manganese steel
manganese
very hard
some railway track (e.g.
points), military helmets
Some environmental considerations
This section is designed to give you a brief idea of the sort of environmental issues involved with the extraction of iron and its conversion
to steel.
Environmental problems in mining and transporting the raw materials
Think about:
•
Loss of landscape due to mining, processing and transporting the iron ore, coke and limestone.
•
Noise and air pollution (greenhouse effect, acid rain) involved in these operations.
Extracting iron from the ore
Think about:
•
Loss of landscape due to the size of the chemical plant needed.
•
Noise.
•
Atmospheric pollution from the various stages of extraction. For example: carbon dioxide (greenhouse effect); carbon monoxide
(poisonous); sulfur dioxide from the sulfur content of the ores (poisonous, acid rain).
•
Disposal of slag, some of which is just dumped.
•
Transport of the finished iron.
Recycling
Think about:
•
Saving of raw materials and energy by not having to first extract the iron from the ore.
•
Avoiding the pollution problems in the extraction of iron from the ore.
•
Not having to find space to dump the unwanted iron if it wasn't recycled.
•
(Offsetting these to a minor extent) Energy and pollution costs in collecting and transporting the recycled iron to the steel works.
Contributors
• Jim Clark (Chemguide.co.uk)
•
Prof. Robert J. Lancashire
(The Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies)
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