Iron is one of the most common elements on earth; it is also one of the oldest metals and was first fashioned into useful and ornamental objects at least 3,500 years ago. Steel/Iron is quite a common building material and it's used for building things such as bridges, cars, pots, trains, fences and office supplies. Iron ore, also known as Hematite is found and mined in Brazil; it is then taken to blast furnaces located around the globe where the ore is mixed with carbon as carbon is more reactive than iron, so it can push out iron from iron dioxide with high temperatures to get rid of the oxygen, this Reaction, in which oxygen is removed is called a reduction reaction.Iron {Fe}Iron from the blast furnace is an alloy of about 96 per cent iron and 4 per cent carbon and some other impurities. It is hard, but too brittle for most uses. So, most iron from the blast furnace is converted into steel by removing some of the carbon.The equation for this process:Iron oxide + carbon → iron + carbon dioxide2Fe2O3 + 3C → 4Fe + 3CO2In the blast furnace, it is so hot that carbon monoxide can also be used to reduce the iron oxide in place of carbon:Iron oxide + carbon monoxide → iron + carbon dioxideFe2O3 + 3CO → 2Fe + 3CO2Steel is the most recycled material on the planet, more than all other materials combined. Steel retains an extremely high overall recycling rate, which in 2012, stood at 88 percent.Aluminium recyclingAluminium is recycled so much that 75% of all that was ever made is still in use today. Aluminium if first collected and compressed at material recovery facilities. Then it goes to a reprocessing plant where it is shredded, de-coated, melted and casted. It's then taken to a rolling mill where it is made into sheets. The main recycling process involves it being cleaned a re-melted into large blocks, which are called ingots.However, there are some drawbacks with mining and recycling aluminium, these include such things as it being expensive, causes environmental damage and can cause lots of noise pollution. Some good things about recycling aluminium though are, it doesn't take a lot of energy to make, it used a lot in such things as planes and trains and it saves a lot of money.
