Question

The aluminum in bauxite must be separated from its oxygen and hydrogen compounds and then further purified to produce the pure metal that we are all familiar with. A large amount of electrical energy is required to obtain pure aluminum metal. For example, processing 1 kg of aluminum from bauxite ore consumes 30 kwh of electricity.

One of the most common uses of aluminum is for beverage cans. A standard size aluminum beverage can weigh 13 grams. Last year, the United States produced 3,600,000 metric tons of new (primary) aluminum. A metric ton is equal to 1000 kg. The average cost of electricity of $0.08 per kwh.

It takes only 5% as much energy to recycle aluminum (secondary aluminum) as it does to make it from the raw bauxite ore.

Please solve the following problems on a separate sheet of paper (think back to dimensional analysis):

1. How much money does it cost to produce the aluminum in one standard can from bauxite ore?

2. If the students at our high school used 500 aluminum cans per day, every day of the week, how much will it cost to produce all those cans from bauxite ore for one full year?

3. How much money does it cost the United States to produce new aluminum from bauxite ore each year?

4. How much money would it cost the United States to produce its annual amount of aluminum if it used recycled (secondary) aluminum only?

Answer 1