Natural Occurrence and Production
The primary chromium ore is the mixed metal oxide chromite, FeCr2O4, found as brittle metallic black crystals or granules. The rare mineral crocoite, PbCrO4, occurs as spectacular long red crystals. Rare potassium chromate minerals and related compounds are found in the Atacama desert.
Chromite ore is heated with a mixture of calcium carbonate and sodium carbonate in the presence of air. The chromium is oxidized to the hexavalent form, while the iron forms iron(III) oxide, Fe2O3.
- 4 FeCr2O4 + 8 Na2CO3 + 7 O2 → 8 Na2CrO4 + 2Fe2O3 + 8 CO2
The subsequent leaching at higher temperatures dissolves the chromates and leaves the insoluble iron oxide. Normally the chromate solution is further processed to make chromium metal, but a chromate salt may be obtained directly from the liquor.
Read more about this topic: Chromate And Dichromate
Famous quotes containing the words natural, occurrence and/or production:
“The whole of natural theology ... resolves itself into one simple, though somewhat ambiguous proposition, That the cause or causes of order in the universe probably bear some remote analogy to human intelligence.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted; and a community is infinitely more brutalised by the habitual employment of punishment than it is by the occasional occurrence of crime.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)