Recycling of Aluminum

Aluminum Goes Green: The Chemistry of Recycling
Experiment 4
Introduction:
Aluminum is a commonly used metal in our everyday lives. Although it can be found in nature as ore, the recycling of aluminum has crucial benefits such as reduction of costs and energy consumption. In this experiment, a sample of aluminum was converted into common alum through a series of sequential reactions. This was done in order to further understand the process of aluminum recycling, as well as deal with writing and identifying reactions.
Materials and Methods: To begin the experiment, a sample of approximately 1 gram (1.01 g) of aluminum can pieces was obtained. Once the sample was placed in the 250 mL beaker, 50 mL of a 1.4 M potassium hydroxide solution were added to the beaker. The solution was placed on a hot plate and stirred in order to accelerate the reaction. During the reaction, observations were made and written down in our laboratory notebooks. Upon the reaction’s completion, the solution was filtered using an aspirator (filter and vacuum) so that all of the remaining undissolved aluminum waste was removed from the solution. Once filtered, the filtrate and a small amount of excess water (used to rinse filtrate) were placed in another 250 mL beaker. Next, a 20 mL sample of 6 M sulfuric acid was added to the filtrate with the excess of water. A solid began to form, so the solution was stirred and placed on a hot plate to dissolve the precipitate that was formed. Once the solution was heated and stirred for a few minutes, a similar filtering process was used to remove whatever remaining insoluble solid was in the solution. After filtering the solution, the filtrate was placed in another clean 250 mL beaker. A 1 liter plastic beaker was then filled about three-quarters of the way full with ice and excess water to make a form of slush. The 250 mL beaker with the filtrate