Name: Extraction of Iron
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 3 min 12 s
Description: Iron ore is mixed with limestone and coke, charged from the top, while hot air is blown from the bottom. What are we talking about? Watch this video to know...

Question

How is iron extracted industrially?

Accepted Answer

The mined ore is crushed into small lumps in the crushers and then the gravity separation method is used using water to remove soluble and lightweight impurities.
Constituents in charge-

-Concentrated ore- Haematite. [ $F e_{2} O_{3}$ ]

-Reducing agent-Coke, Flux- $C a C O_{3}$

The concentrated ore is reduced in a blast furnace- with different reactions in different regions.

Lower region: $C + O_{2} \overset{}{\to} C O_{2} + h e a t$

Middle region:

$C O_{2}$ combines with more $C$ to form $C O$ .

$C O_{2} + C \overset{}{\to} C O_{2} + 2 C O - h e a t C a C O_{3} \overset{}{\to} C a O + C O_{2} C a O + S i O_{2} \overset{}{\to} C a S i O_{3} [s l a g)$

Upper region: $F e_{2} O_{3}$ is reduced to $F e$ . $F e_{2} O_{3} + 3 C O \overset{}{\to} 2 F e + 3 C O_{2} [m o l t e n i r o n f o r m e d]$

The molten iron on solidification is called-'pig iron'

How is iron extracted industrially?

Important Questions on Production of Metals

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