Refining Aluminum

Most of the aluminum today is produced by the Hall process which uses significant amounts of energy in the form of electricity to electrolyze aluminum metal from a molten salt mixture. The large initial outlay of energy is one important reason why recycling aluminum is such a good and cost-effective idea.

Since aluminum is found in compounds with other elements it needs to be reduced. The Bayer process was invented by Karl Bayer in 1887. It is essentially referring to the refining of bauxite, the most important aluminum ore, to produce alumina. From here, the intermediate alumina must be smelted into metallic aluminum through the Hall-Heroult Process.