Metals and Metallurgical Principles (Class 11)

Manoj Khanal

Metals and Non-metals Introduction

One can easily differentiate between metals and non-metals based on their placement on the
Periodic Table of the Elements. The metals are elements (with the exception of hydrogen)
that are found to the left of a group of elements referred to as the metalloids. The metalloids
are a group of elements which have properties similar to both the metals and non-metals.
These metalloids are: Boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, tellurium and astatine.

The non-metals are elements found to the right of these metalloids, including the element,
hydrogen.
Differences between Metals and Non-metals
Differences in physical properties  
 Metals  Non-metals
 Malleable and ductile.  Brittle. Neither malleable nor ductile.
 Bad conductors of heat and
 Good conductors of heat and elecu.ity. except
electncity. (except graphite which is a
tungsten which is not a good conductor of electricity)
good conductor of electricity.)
 Non-lustrous and cannot be polished,
 Lustrous and can be polished (except graphite and iodine which are
lustrous nonmetals)
 Solids at room temperature(except mercury and  May be solids, liquids or gases at
gallium which are liquids) room temperature.
 Not strong. low tensile strength.
 Strong and tough and high tensile strength.
(Diamonds carbon fibre is an
(exceptions are zinc, mercury and gallium)
exception)
 Hard and have high density. (exceptions are sodium  Generally soft and have low density.
and potassium have specific gravity less than 1. (Except diamond which is the hardest
Calcium and Mg have also low densities.) substance)
 Low melting point with the exception
of carbon and silicon.
 High Melting point and boiling point.
Low boiling point with the exception of
carbon and boron
Chemical Properties

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 Differences in chemical properties
Metals have 1, 2 or 3 electrons in the Non-metals have 4 to 8 electrons in the
outermost shell outermost shell
Gain or share valence electrons and form
Loses valence electrons and forms cations
anions
Electropositive Electronegative
Metals lose electrons present in the valence Non-metals gain electrons from other
shell and are oxidized and hence are good elements and are reduced and hence are
reducing agents good oxidizing agents
On electrolysis of metal compounds metals On electrolysis of compounds non-metals are
are discharged at the cathode discharged at the anode
Minerals and Ores
Metals and their compounds are found in earth as natural elements known as minerals. Ores
are minerals from which metals are extracted at low cost with minimum effort. Ores contains
metal compounds with a percentage of impurities. All the ores are minerals, but all the
minerals are not ores. When an ore is mined from the earth, it is always found to be mixed
with sand and rocky material. The impurity of sand and rocky material present in an ore is
known as gangue. The gangue is mainly composed of silica (Si02).
Metals and their Ores
 Oxides  Carbonates  Halides  Sulphides  Sulphates
 Zinc blende
 Marble or Lime  Flurospar
 Zincite( ZnO) (ZnS) Galena  Anglesite (Pb504)
stone (CaCO3) (CaF2)
(PbS)
 Haematite
 Calamine  Cryolite  Iron pyrites
(Fe203.xH2O)  Baryle (BaSO4)
(ZnCO3) (Na3AlF6) (FeS2)
Magnitite (Fe304)
 Horn Silver  Gypsum (CaSO4
 Bauxite (Al203.2H2O)  Siderite (FeCO3)  Cinnabar (HgS)
(AgCI) 2H2O)
 Magnesite  Rock salt  Epsom Salt
 Cuprite (Cu2O)  
(MgCO3) (NaCl) (MgSO4.7H2O)
Occurrence of Metals
 Metals like gold and platinum occur in the free metallic form not acted upon by air or
water
 The rest of the metals occur in the combined form as compounds. Copper is one of the
metals which occur in free as well as combined state
 Aluminium is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust
 The second most abundant metal in the earth is iron and the third one is calcium
Important minerals deposit in Nepal

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 Metals and Metallurgical Principles (Class 11)
Manoj Khanal

Nepal is quite rich in mineral resources. Mineral deposits such as gold, mica, limestone, iron
ore, copper are found in different parts of Nepal. Because of financial constraint and lack of
technical and skilled manpower, progress in the field of mining is negligible. If we utilize the
mineral resources of Nepal properly, we can earn foreign currencies and people will get job
opportunities also. The areas where minerals are found are as follows:
1. Copper: Buddha Khola (Bandipur), Gyari (Gorkha), Arghauli (Chisapani), Taplejung,
Ilam, Baitadi, etc.
2. Iron: Ramechhap, Labdhi Khola, Pyuthan, Bhainse, Kulekhani, Bhutkhola, Phulchoki,
Ghatkhola, etc.
3. Mica: Bhojpur, Chainpur, Lamjung, Dhankuta, Nuwakot, Sindhuligadhi, etc.
4. Limestone: Chovar (Kathmandu), Baise (Makawanpur), Udayapur.
Metallurgical Processes of Metal Extraction
The process of extracting a metal from its ore and refining it, is called metallurgical process or
simply as metallurgy.
The actual process of extraction of a metal from its ore depends upon the nature of the ore
and the metal. There is no universally operational method for the extraction of metals. Certain
common steps however, are involved in all metallurgical processes.
The extraction of a metal from its ore involves the following steps:
1. Mining of ore
Most ores generally occur deep inside the Earth. Some may occur only a few metres under the
earth's surface. 'Mining' is the process of taking out the ores from the mines. When an ore occurs
near the surface of the Earth, it can be directly dug out. Such mining is termed as open-pit mining.
When an ore is taken out from greater depths, then the mining is termed deep-mining.
2. Crushing of the ore
Extracted ore often occurs in big lumps. It is essential to break it into smaller pieces. The lumps are
crushed to smaller pieces by hammering in a hammer mill or by help of a jaw-crusher.
3. Grinding and pulverization of the crushed ore
The crushed ore is then finally pulverized to fine powder state in a stamp mill or a pulveriser.
4. Concentration of the ore (ore dressing)
The removal of the undesired foreign impurities i.e., gangue, from the ore is called
concentration (or beneficiation) of the ore. Either of the following methods is used for
concentrating the ores:
i. Hand picking
If the impurities present are quite distinct from the ore, and are of large size, these may be
removed by hand picking. This method is slow and is generally adopted in the initial stages of
concentration.
ii. Gravity or levigation method
When the ore particles are heavier than the gangue particles, the ore is fed into a running
stream of water and impurities are washed away. This separation is by way of gravity or
levigation method and is commonly used for oxide ores such as hematite and native ore of
Au, Ag, etc. In order to concentrate the ore in bulk, a slanting vibrating wooden table with
wooden strips called riffles is introduced in the process. Such tables are termed Wilfley tables.
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The ore is continuously washed with a fine spray of water and the rocking motion sieves the
heavier portions, while allowing the impurities to filter away.

Fig: - Wilfley table for washing of the ore

Sometimes in the gravity method, a hydraulic classifier based on the gravity method is used.
Ore is agitated by a powerful current of water pushing upwards through the bottom of a
conical reservoir. The heavier ore particles settle down and are continuously removed from
another opening near the bottom, while the lighter particles are washed away by water.

Fig: - Hydraulic classifier

iii. Magnetic separation
Magnetic separation is done especially in the case of haematite ore, whereby the powdered
ore is dropped on to leather or brass conveyer belt, which moves over two rollers one of these
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 Metals and Metallurgical Principles (Class 11)
Manoj Khanal

rollers, is magnetic. When the ore passes over the magnetic roller, it sticks to the belt due to
the force of attraction and falls nearer due to the force of attraction of the magnetized roller.
The gangue falls over readily, further away. The ore and the magnetic impurity are collected
as two separate heaps.

Fig: - Magnetic separation

iv. Froth flotation process
This process is used for concentrating sulphide ores; as such ores are preferentially wetted
by oil while the gangue particles are wetted by water. Powdered ore is mixed with water and a
little pine oil and the mixture is vigorously stirred by passing compressed air. The froth, which
is produced rises to the surface and carries the ore particles along with it. The gangue is left
behind.

Fig: - The froth flotation process

v. Leaching process
In this method, the ore is treated chemically with a suitable reagent that preferentially
dissolves the active component of the ore. The concentrated ore form is then recovered from
the solution by a suitable chemical method.
A typical example of ore concentration by leaching process is the purification of bauxite using
NaOH solution as a leachant. The Bauxite is digested with concentrated solution of caustic
soda at 150°C in an autoclave. The Aluminium oxide dissolves in NaOH leaving behind the
insoluble impurities, which are removed by filtration.

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The solution of NaAlO2 (sodium meta-alumiinate) is then treated with freshly prepared Al(OH) 3
when the entire aluminium in the solution gets precipitated as Al(OH)3

The precipitate of Al(OH)3 is removed, washed and dried to get Al2O3.

Leaching of silver ore
Leaching process is also employed in the recovery of some precious metals. Silver is
extracted from its ores (argentite, Ag2S; horn silver, AgCl) by cyanide process. The finely
powdered concentrated ore is treated with a dilute aqueous solution of NaCN (sodium
cyanide) and a current of air is passed through the solution. Silver present in the ore gets
dissolved due to the formation of soluble sodium argento-cyanide complex, Na[Ag(CN)2] viz.,

Na2S so formed gets oxidized (by air) to Na 2SO3, Na2SO4 and thus allow the reaction to go in
the forward direction. The solution of Na[Ag(CN)2) is then treated with zinc scrap to recover
silver.

With horn silver (AgCl), the reaction with NaCN can be written as,

Leaching of gold ore

Gold-containing ore gets dissolved in KCN solution in the presence of air to give a solution
containing K[Au(CN)2]. Gold can then be recovered from this solution by either precipitation or
electrolytic method.
Electrostatic concentration and liquation are other methods of concentrating of ores. The
usages of these methods depend on the nature of the ores and the type of impurities present.
5. Calcination and Roasting
The concentrated ore is converted into oxide by calcination i.e., heating it strongly in the
absence of air or roasting (heating it strongly in presence of air). This helps in removing
volatile impurities like CO2, SO2, organic matter, and moisture from the ore. Calcination is
mainly carried if the ore is oxide or carbonate. For example, in calcination
 It removes moisture from bauxite.

 It removes CO2 from carbonate ores e.g.,

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 Metals and Metallurgical Principles (Class 11)
Manoj Khanal

Fig: - A reverberatory furnace

Calcination is done on the hearth of a reverberatory furnace.
Roasting
In this process the ore (usually sulphide) is heated strongly, in the presence of excess of air
but below its melting temperature. The result is
 It removes moisture, CO2, SO2 and organic matter.
 The sulphide ore is converted partly into its oxide or sulphate i.e.,

Similarly,

Roasting is done in a reverberatory furnace or in a blast furnace.

6. Extraction of Metals
Once the ore is calcined or roasted, the process of reduction obtains the metal. The extraction
of metal from the calcined or roasted ore consists of two steps viz.,
 Removal of the Earthly impurities.
 Reduction of the ore to the metal.
The Earthly impurities are removed by adding suitable substance called flux which when
heated, combines with the earthly impurities to form easily fusible mass known as slag, is
called flux. There are two types of fluxes.
Acidic flux
Acidic flux like silica (SiO 2) is used to remove basic earthly impurities (gangue) such as lime
(CaO) or MgO.

Basic flux
Basic fluxes like lime (CaO), magnesium oxide (MgO) are used to remove acidic gangue such
as SiO2.
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Slag
When a flux combines with the earthly impurities, an easily fusible mass is obtained which is
called slag. The slag is lighter and insoluble in the molten metal. So it can be easily removed
from the surface of the molten metal. Molten mixture of calcium and magnesium silicates
forms slag.
After removing the Earthy impurities, the metals are obtained from the calcined or roasted ore
by the process of reduction. This can be either chemical reduction or electrolytic reduction
processes. The choice of the method depends upon various factors.
7. Chemical Reduction Methods
In chemical reduction process, the choice of reducing agent depends upon the chemical
reactivity of the metal.
Smelting (Carbon reduction method)
This method is used for the extraction of lead, zinc, iron, copper, manganese and tin. In this
method, the roasted oxide ore is mixed with carbon (charcoal, coal or coke) and a flux, and is
heated to a very high temperature in a suitable furnace. Carbon reduces the oxide to metal.

Hydrogen reduction method

Hydrogen can reduce certain oxides to metals e.g.,

Carbon monoxide reduction method

In certain cases CO gas produced in the furnace itself can be used as a reducing agent. For
example,

Magnesium reduction method

Oxides of certain metals are reduced by Mg e.g.,

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 Metals and Metallurgical Principles (Class 11)
Manoj Khanal

Aluminium reduction method (Alumino Thermic Process)

Certain metal oxides cannot be reduced by carbon. Such metallic oxides can be reduced by
aluminium powder. This process has been widely used to reduce TiO2, Cr2O3 and Mn3O4 to
get the corresponding metal.

Self-reduction method
When the sulphide ores of less electropositive metals like Hg, Cu, Pb, Sb etc., are heated in
air, a part of the ore gets oxidized to oxide or sulphate, which then reacts with the remaining
sulphide ore to give the metal and SO2. This process is also known as self-reduction method.

Reduction by more electropositive metals (precipitation or hydrometallurgy)

This method is employed when leaching method had been used to concentrate the ore. The
metals are obtained by reducing their ions in the solution as precipitates by a more
electropositive metal. This method is also called as the hydrometallurgy method of reduction.
For example, when a heap of copper glance (Cu 2S) is exposed to air and water, it gets
converted to copper sulphate. Copper is recovered from copper sulphate solution by adding
some iron scrap to its solution.

Ag and Au are also recovered from the solutions of their complex cyanide salts by zinc scrap.
Problems
Q. What is Goldschmidt thermite process?
Solution
The process of reduction of a metal oxide to the metal with the help of aluminium powder,
which liberates large amount of heat to produce the metal in its molten state, is called
Goldschmidt thermite process.
Q. How is gold recovered?
Solution
Gold being a noble metal occurs in its native form. It is further purified by the process of
leaching or precipitiation called hydrometallurgy. The native gold in its complex form is first
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precipitated with potassium cyanide solution. It is then recovered from the solution by adding
scrap zinc.

8. Electrolytic Reduction Method

Certain metals can be obtained by affecting the reduction of the corresponding cations
electrolytically. For example, sodium metal is obtained by electrolyzing molten sodium
chloride.

At cathode:

At anode:

The oxides of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals like Al, Zn etc., are very stable, hence would
need very high temperature for carbon reduction. But at high temperatures these metals react
with carbon to form carbides. Thus, these metals cannot be obtained by carbon-reduction
process. The oxides of these metals, however can be reduced electrolytically. For example,
the reduction of Al2O3 to aluminium by electrolysis method. In actual practice, a solution of
Al2O3 in cryolite (Na3AlF6) is electrolyzed as follows:

AlF3 Al3+ + 3F-

At cathode:

At anode:

9. Refining of Metals
The metals so extracted are further refined by suitable methods. The electrolytic method is
the most suitable method for refining the non-ferrous metals. The metals produced by any
method given above are not very pure. These need further refining.
This can be done by any of the following methods:
Liquation method
This method is used when the melting temperature of the metal is lower than that of the
impurity and the impurities are not miscible with the metal. Metals like Bi, Sn, Pb, Hg etc., are
purified by this method. The sloping floor of a reverberatory furnace is used to melt crude
metal, when the pure metal flows down, the impurities are left behind.
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 Metals and Metallurgical Principles (Class 11)
Manoj Khanal

Fig: - The Liquation method

Distillation
When metals have low boiling points e.g., mercury, zinc, cadmium etc., most of the impurities
can be separated by distillation. Their vapours, on condensation in a suitable condenser give
the pure metal.
Poling
Oxide impurity of impure metals can be purified by this method. Poles of green wood are used
to stir the molten crude metal sample. The hydrocarbon organic matter in the poles acts as a
reducing agent and reduces the oxide impurities. This method is used for refining copper.
Oxidation or cupellation
Impurities that can be oxidised to volatile products can be removed by oxidation. For
example, the impurity of lead from silver is removed when lead is oxidized and led away by a
current of air. Shining silver is left behind.
Molten pig iron is also purified by this technique in a Bessemer converter. The impurities in
the form of volatile oxides, escape out.
Electrolytic method
A large number of metals e.g., copper, silver, gold, nickel etc. are refined by this method. In
an electrolytic cell the impure metal is made anode and a thin strip of pure metal is made
cathode. A solution of a suitable salt of the concerned metal is used to fill the electrolytic cell.
On passing electricity, the anode undergoes dissolution while the pure metal gets deposited
at cathode. Insoluble impurities fall below the anode in the form of anode mud.

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Fig: - Electrolytic purification of a metal
Zone refining method
When metals are required in a ultra pure state, the zone refining method is used. The
principle-employed states that the impurities, which lower the melting point of a metal remain
preferentially dissolved in the liquid phase and purer metal will emerge in the solid phase.
In actual practice, a cylinder of impure metal is kept in a tubular furnace and the heater is
made to move in one direction at a very slow speed. The solid material crystallizes as the
heater moves along the tube, and the advancing zone contains liquid with higher impurity
content. The process is repeated a number of times till the desired level of purity is obtained.

Fig: - The Zone refining method

Van Arkel method
In the Van Arkel method impure metal is first converted into one of its unstable compounds.
Heating the unstable compound of the metal at higher temperatures, decomposes it to give
pure metal. For example, pure titanium can be obtained from impure titanium by converting it
into tetraiodide, and then decomposing this tetraiodide to pure Ti.

Q. How do you purify ores, which have easily oxidizable impurities?

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 Metals and Metallurgical Principles (Class 11)
Manoj Khanal

Solution
The method used to purify impurities that are easily oxidizable is cupellation. Silver is refined
by this method. The impure metal is fused in small boat shaped dishes made of bone ash
called as cupels. The cupels are heated in a suitable furnace by a blast of air blown over
them. The impurity like lead is easily oxidized to lead monoxide and is carried away by the
blast, while pure silver is left behind.
Q. How is blistered copper purified?
Solution
Removing the reducible cuprous oxides of copper by the method of poling purifies blistered
copper. The metal ore is initially melted in a shallow reverberatory furnace and the molten
copper is stirred with logs of green wood. The blistered copper with cuprous oxide gets
reduced to its metallic state by the gases given off by green wood; the impurities get removed
either in the form of gases such as SO 2, As2O3 etc., or they form scum over the molten metal,
which is then skimmed off, leaving behind the pure metal.

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