Iron Refining

As a definition the iron ore is a rock that has in its own composition a quantity of iron which can be extracted through a special process. The ores come in different colours ranging from dark grey to red. These minerals include hematite, magnetite, limonite, and siderite. It is a known fact that iron can't be found in the nature in its pure form, iron ores containing only up to 70% of iron atoms.

To exploit the iron, most mines use different resources. They depend on rails in order to move the raw materials. After the ore is brought up to the surface, it is crushed and used after, by refineries which use heat and other chemical processes to extract the iron. Some companies deal with the recycling of metals from any waste like used automobiles, batteries, electronics and other useless things. The recycled materials are to be deposited into special locations until processing.

There is a specific process in order to create pure iron. The ore must be deoxygenated, as its composition has a mixture of oxygen and iron atoms forming the molecules. The result is pure iron, used in many industries creating various useful products.

The refining process it's rather complex. To obtain the iron, the oxygen atoms need to be removed from the iron ore. This requires heat and another material for the oxygen to bond with. The needed material is the carbon, which can be easily found in the form of charcoal. The carbon atoms mix with the oxygen, forming the carbon monoxide, which is being released through chimneys.

The term of pig iron relates to the process which uses limestone to be added in the mix, by increasing the heat in order to obtain a purified form of iron. The calcium from the limestone along with the silicates from the ore, form a so called slag, a material which floats on top of the pure melted iron. The pure melted iron is drained in a special mold where it gets cold. The resulting material is converted into wrought iron in order to obtain steel.

The iron has played an important role in human civilization as it is used in all the industry's fields, completing our everyday lives. Although many of us don't consider it of a great importance, never thinking about its role, without this great discovery mankind would have never reached this high level of civilisation.

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