Aluminum is produced during an electrochemical reduction reaction called Aluminum smelting process in which aluminum oxide is dissolved in a Bath of molten sodium aluminum fluoride (cryolite) at a temperature of 960 degrees Celsius ( 1,760 °F).
An electric current is passed through the cell causing the reduction of alumina into primary aluminum metal. The entire process occurs in a steel furnace, or "pot". This pot is lined with a carbon layer that acts as the cathode of the smelting cell. A refractory layer isolates the carbon from the steel shell. After 5-8 years of operation, this cathode fails from a combination of factors such as erosion and cracking. When this happens, the pot is taken out of service and the lining is removed. Each pot contains up to 90 metric tons (100 US tons) of a heterogeneous mixture of carbon, aluminum, sodium, fluoride, silica, calcium, and minor amounts of cyanide and iron.
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Aluminum (Aluminum makes reference to the most common ...)
Smelt (Smelt means to fuse or melt ore in order to ...)
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