Aluminium is 100% recyclable without any loss of its natural qualities. Recovery of the metal via recycling has become an important facet of the aluminium industry.
Recycling involves melting the scrap, a process that requires only five percent of the energy used to produce aluminium from ore. However, a significant part (up to 15% of the input material) is lost as dross (ash-like oxide).[24] The dross can undergo a further process to extract aluminium.
Recycling was a low-profile activity until the late 1960s, when the growing use of aluminium beverage cans brought it to the public awareness.
In Europe aluminium experiences high rates of recycling, ranging from 42% of beverage cans, 85% of construction materials and 95% of transport vehicles.[25]
Recycled aluminium is known as secondary aluminium, but maintains the same physical properties as primary aluminium. Secondary aluminium is produced in a wide range of formats and is employed in 80% of the alloy injections. Another important use is for extrusion.
White dross from primary aluminium production and from secondary recycling operations still contains useful quantities of aluminium which can be extracted industrially.[26] The process produces aluminium billets, together with a highly complex waste material. This waste is difficult to manage. It reacts with water, releasing a mixture of gases (including, among others, hydrogen, acetylene, and ammonia) which spontaneously ignites on contact with air;[27] contact with damp air results in the release of copious quantities of ammonia gas. Despite these difficulties, however, the waste has found use as a filler in asphalt and concrete.[28]
Chemistry
Oxidation state +1
AlH is produced when aluminium is heated in an atmosphere of hydrogen. Al2O is made by heating the normal oxide, Al2O3, with silicon at 1,800 °C (3,272 °F) in a vacuum.[29]
Al2S can be made by heating Al2S3 with aluminium shavings at 1,300 °C (2,372 °F) in a vacuum.[29] It quickly disproportionates to the starting materials. The selenide is made in a parallel manner.
AlF, AlCl and AlBr exist in the gaseous phase when the tri-halide is heated with aluminium. Aluminium halides usually exist in the form AlX3, where X is F, Cl, Br, or I.[29]
Oxidation state +2
Aluminium monoxide, AlO, has been detected in the gas phase after explosion[30] and in stellar absorption spectra.[31]
Oxidation state +3
Fajans' rules show that the simple trivalent cation Al3+ is not expected to be found in anhydrous salts or binary compounds such as Al2O3. The hydroxide is a weak base and aluminium salts of weak acids, such as carbonate, cannot be prepared. The salts of strong acids, such as nitrate, are stable and soluble in water, forming hydrates with at least six molecules of water of crystallization.
Aluminium hydride, (AlH3)n, can be produced from trimethylaluminium and an excess of hydrogen. It burns explosively in air. It can also be prepared by the action of aluminium chloride on lithium hydride in ether solution, but cannot be isolated free from the solvent. Alumino-hydrides of the most electropositive elements are known, the most useful being lithium aluminium hydride, Li[AlH4]. It decomposes into lithium hydride, aluminium and hydrogen when heated, and is hydrolysed by water. It has many uses in organic chemistry, particularly as a reducing agent. The aluminohalides have a similar structure.
Aluminium hydroxide may be prepared as a gelatinous precipitate by adding ammonia to an aqueous solution of an aluminium salt. It is amphoteric, being both a very weak acid, and forming aluminates with alkalis. It exists in various crystalline forms.
Aluminium carbide, Al4C3 is made by heating a mixture of the elements above 1,000 °C (1,832 °F). The pale yellow crystals have a complex lattice structure, and react with water or dilute acids to give methane. The acetylide, Al2(C2)3, is made by passing acetylene over heated aluminium.
Aluminium nitride, AlN, can be made from the elements at 800 °C (1,472 °F). It is hydrolysed by water to form ammonia and aluminium hydroxide. Aluminium phosphide, AlP, is made similarly, and hydrolyses to give phosphine.
Aluminium oxide, Al2O3, occurs naturally as corundum, and can be made by burning aluminium in oxygen or by heating the hydroxide, nitrate or sulfate. As a gemstone, its hardness is only exceeded by diamond, boron nitride, and carborundum. It is almost insoluble in water. Aluminium sulfide, Al2S3, may be prepared by passing hydrogen sulfide over aluminium powder. It is polymorphic.
Aluminium iodide, AlI3, is a dimer with applications in organic synthesis. Aluminium fluoride, AlF3, is made by treating the hydroxide with HF, or can be made from the elements. It consists of a giant molecule which sublimes without melting at 1,291 °C (2,356 °F). It is very inert. The other trihalides are dimeric, having a bridge-like structure.
When aluminium and fluoride are together in aqueous solution, they readily form complex ions such as [AlF(H2O)5]2+, AlF3(H2O)3, and [AlF6]3−. Of these, [AlF6]3− is the most stable. This is explained by the fact that aluminium and fluoride, which are both very compact ions, fit together just right to form the octahedral aluminium hexafluoride complex. When aluminium and fluoride are together in water in a 1:6 molar ratio, [AlF6]3− is the most common form, even in rather low concentrations.
Organometallic compounds of empirical formula AlR3 exist and, if not also polymers, are at least dimers or trimers. They have some uses in organic synthesis, for instance trimethylaluminium.
Analysis
The presence of aluminium can be detected in qualitative analysis using aluminon.
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