Aluminium or aluminum (US English) is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances. Aluminium is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant metal, in the Earth's crust. It makes up about 8% by weight of the Earth's solid surface. Aluminium metal is too reactive chemically to occur natively. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different minerals. The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite.

Aluminium is remarkable for the metal's low density and for its ability to resist corrosion due to the phenomenon of passivation. Structural components made from aluminium and its alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and are important in other areas of transportation and structural materials. The most useful compounds of aluminium, at least on a weight basis, are the oxides and sulfates.

Despite its prevalence in the environment, aluminium salts are not known to be used by any form of life. In keeping with its pervasiveness, it is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of their prevalence, potential beneficial (or otherwise) biological roles of aluminium compounds are of continuing interest.

Recycling AluminumEdit

ALUMINUM cycle

1. You enjoy your favorite beverage in an aluminum can
2. You are a good "sort." You put the aluminum can in a bag for recycling.
3. Recycling company takes the cans to a recycling plant. The aluminum is shredded and melted.
4. The molten aluminum is gradually hardened into ingot form.
5. Ingots are made into aluminum sheets or other desired forms.
6. The aluminum is made into new cans, and the cycle begins again.

Like most metals, other than gold, aluminum is obtained from an ore. An ore is a mineral that is mined for a valuable material contained within it. Bauxite, a reddish clay-like ore, is rich in aluminum compounds.

The tricky thing about aluminum—unlike copper, iron, and other common metals—is that it only exists in combination with other elements, usually oxygen. Combined with oxygen, aluminum forms an extremely hard material known as alumina. To free the aluminum, the alumina must be stripped or reduced of its oxygen. This process is done at a reduction plant, or smelter. The alumina is put into large pots at the reduction plant. First, it is dissolved in a molten (or liquid) salt (2800 F).

Then, a powerful electric current is run through the liquid to separate the aluminum from the oxygen. The molten aluminum sinks to the bottom of the pots. The reduction process requires a tremendous amount of electrical energy.

That is why recycling aluminum makes sense. It saves energy—a lot of energy. Today, aluminum can recycling saves about 11.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh)—enough electricity to light a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years.

As you probably know, energy is expensive! Just take a look at your electric bill, or note the price of a gallon of gasoline the next time you see a gas station. Making a pound of aluminum from bauxite ore (a pound is about how much 34 aluminum beverage cans weigh) takes 7.5 kilowatt-hours of energy.

Making aluminum from recycled aluminum scrap, on the other hand, takes only four percent of the energy—just one-third kWh. Recycling four aluminum cans saves as much energy as the energy in one cup of gasoline.

That is also why used aluminum items have a high scrap value. Aluminum manufacturers save energy and money by using recycled aluminum, so they will pay you for your old cans—about a penny for every can. One could sell scrap aluminum, or any metal for that fact, to a scrap yard aka a salvage yard. ^[1]

energy and air pollution is saved by 95%

recycling ton of aluminum could save the equivalent of a 999/160 cubic meter tank of gasoline, 329/200 tons of red mud, 1,554 gallons of oil, 10 cubic yards of landfill space, 14,000 kWh of energy, 237,600,000 Btu’s of energy, 4,383/1,000 tons of bauxite, 1,020 pounds of petroleum coke, 966 pounds of soda ash, 327 pounds of pitch, 238 pounds of limestone, 29/20 tons of co2, 81 pounds of air pollution, 789 pounds of solid waste, a 42 cubic meter lake, enough energy to power over 493/2,000 cars for a year, a CFL for 217/292 years, 71,280/19 homes for a year, enough oil to run the average car for 23,310 miles or circle the globe almost 1,740,480 times, 2,331/4 tons of green house gases, a 46,620,000 cubic meter lake from being polluted, 400 metric tons of toxic lead

recycling one metric ton of aluminum could save up to 8 metric tons of bauxite, over 777 pounds of co2 a year, 4 metric tons of chemical products, 14,000 kwh of energy, over 10 metric tons of greenhouse gases, 12,950/229 gallons of oil, enough energy to power a 21/2 bedroom house for an entire year, and over 13,209/200,000 cars for a year, a CFL for 217/292 Years, one car to travel 194,250/229 miles, 777/2 power strips.