Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

What is electrometallurgy?

Answer
VerifiedVerified
511.2k+ views
Hint: It is the last stage in metal production in which electricity is used to remove the metal from its components. It is an important branch of metallurgy. For example, it can extract and purify copper from its ore.

Complete step by step answer:
Metallurgy is a process that is used for the extraction of metals to obtain them in their pure form. The compounds of metals mixed with rocks, soil, sand and impurities are referred to as minerals. These minerals are called ores. Metals can be extracted commercially from ores at low cost and minimum effort. Metallurgy involves the process of purification of metals and the formation of alloys.
Flux is a substance which is added to remove the impurities. The metallurgical process can be understood by the following points:
The first step is crushing and grinding of ores into a fine powder using a crusher. This is known as pulverisation.
Impurities can be removed from the ore and this process is called ore dressing or concentration of minerals.
 Concentration of ores is done by many methods, these are hydrolytic methods, magnetic separation, froth floatation and roasting and calcination.
During electrolysis electrons are added directly to the metal ions to the negative electrode that produces electricity. With the use of this electrical energy, metals are reduced from their compounds. The impure metal is dissolved at anode and impure method is dissolved at cathode.

Note:
 By this method, strong electropositive metals like 1A, 2A and aluminium are extracted. There are four categories of this process: electrowinning, electrorefining, electroplating and electroforming.