Why the world's most abundant metal is so expensive to produce
In short: Despite being everywhere, aluminium is costly to refine. This video explains the industrial process of transforming raw bauxite ore into the versatile metal used in everything from aircraft to soda cans.
The extraction process begins with bauxite, the primary ore of aluminium. This ore is first purified to create aluminium oxide, a white powder. Because aluminium is highly conductive, low-density, and corrosion-resistant, it is a staple of modern engineering, though its high energy requirements make it a premium material.
The final stage of production involves electrolysis. This chemical process uses electricity to separate aluminium from its oxide, a method that highlights the trade-off between a metal's widespread availability and the significant energy investment required to make it usable.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Extraction Of Aluminium Using Electrolysis | Environmental Chemistry | FuseSchool
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