List and discuss two upstream industries related to aluminum sheet production. W

Question

List and discuss two upstream industries related to aluminum sheet production. What is the significance of each industry as it pertains to environment (such as the number of tons of ore it digs up or transports, or the amount of electricity it consumes or how many acres land it processes) or how large is its carbon footprint? What is the main source of negative impact does each industry have on the environment (is it air pollution or water pollution, and discuss the source)?

An Upstream industry (for any industry) is closer to the source. So upstream will include exploration, extraction, refining

Explanation / Answer

Bauxite is the most commerically mined ore of aluminium because of its high metal content. Aluminium production consists of three steps. First step is mining of bauxite followed by refining of bauxite and finally smelting of alumina to aluminium. China, Middle East, Russia, Canada and India are major producer of aluminium. Examples of world class companies involved in the aluminium production are Rio Tinto, Alcoa, Alouette, Hindalco, National aluminium company(Nalco) and Bharat Aluminium( Balco) The aluminium production can be classified into upstream and downstream activities. The downstream process involves casting, fabricating and smelting while upstream processes involves mining and refining. Power is the major cost component in manufacturing of aluminium as it involves electrolysis. Aluminium industry contributes about $150 billion to the economy of US every year. Worldwide about 40 million tons of aluminium are produced are produced every year.

Since aluminium is a combination of many valuable properties. It is extremely flexible, corrosion resistant, superior weight to strength ratio. So because of this it is widely used in machinery, equipment, construction, electrical power transmission. It is also used in cans, air conditioners, vehicles, furnitures, packaging etc.

The production of aluminium is an energy intensive by nature because of its electrolysis process. The production of primary alumina results in direct emission of greenhouse gases by the use of fossil fuels in the alumina calcination process as well as indirect emission of greenhouse gases by the production of electricity in the electrolysis process. About one tonne of alumina are produced from 2-4 tonnes of bauxite. Once alumina is extracted from the bauxite the remaining bauxite is stored in landfills which is a problem due to its large area occupancy and alkalinity of the residue and run off water. Also since majority of the bauxite comes from surface mines in tropical areas. It disturbs a large area including natural and critical habitats.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse L
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.