How to separate iron from silicon dioxide?
My friend and I would like to know how to get iron from iron ore, but we do not know how to separate the iron and silicon dioxide and other impurities, and I am horrible with research, so I couldn't find anything online.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
The silicon oxide is removed as slag in the blast furnace process.. the reason why limestone is added.
CaCO3 ---> CaO + CO2
CaO + SiO2 ---> CaSiO3
The slag floats in a separate layer at the bottom of the furnace and can be run off.
The Iron oxide in the Iron ore is simple reduced to molten iron
There is a good basic web animation at http://www.absorblearning.com/media/item.action?qu...
STRAIGHT FROM WIKIPEDIA
Blast furnace
Main article: Blast furnace
Ninety percent of all mining of metallic ores is for the extraction of iron[citation needed]. Industrially, iron production involves iron ores, principally hematite (nominally Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) in a carbothermic reaction (reduction with carbon) in a blast furnace at temperatures of about 2000 °C. In a blast furnace, iron ore, carbon in the form of coke, and a flux such as limestone (which is used to remove silicon dioxide impurities in the ore which would otherwise clog the furnace with solid material) are fed into the top of the furnace, while a massive blast of heated air, about 4 tons, per ton of iron[38], is forced into the furnace at the bottom.
Iron output in 2005
In the furnace, the coke reacts with oxygen in the air blast to produce carbon monoxide:
2 C + O2 â 2 CO
The carbon monoxide reduces the iron ore (in the chemical equation below, hematite) to molten iron, becoming carbon dioxide in the process:
Fe2O3 + 3 CO â 2 Fe + 3 CO2
"and I am horrible with research"
Really? there is this cool thing you should know about, its called "Google"
There is also my favorite, Wikipedia. Now some people have low opinion of Wikipedia, but even if one doesn't trust it, it can give you some background to use for further research, and many articles do have references.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraction_of_iron#In...