Case Study: Conversion of Bauxite Ore to Aluminum Metal
In 1886, Charles Hall, an American (23 yrs. old), and Paul Heroult, a Frenchmen (23 yrs old), simultaneously and independently developed the process still in use today to make aluminum metal. The purified aluminum oxide is mixed with cryolite, a mixture of sodium fluoride and aluminum fluoride, and heated to about 980 degrees Celsius to melt ...