Question

Aluminium metal is purified by :

• A. Hooper's process
• B. Hall-Heroult process
• C. Serpeck's process
• D. Baeyer's process

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

Hooper's process

Answer 2

The Hooper process is a process for the electrolytic refining of aluminium. Impure Al forms the anode and pure Al forms the cathode of the Hooper's cell which contains three liquid layers. The bottom layer is molten impure Al, the middle is a fused salt layer containing sodium fluoride, aluminum fluoride and barium fluoride, and the top layer is pure Al. At the anode (bottom layer), Al passes with solution as aluminium ion (Al3+), and at the cathode (top layer), these ions are reduced to the pure metal. In operation, molten metal is added to the bottom of the cell and pure aluminium is drawn off the top.

At anode : Al Al3+ + 3e–

At cathode : Al3+ + 3e– Al.