An electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing company is evaluating the environmental and economic impacts of sourcing metals for its production line. The company requires high-purity aluminium for the lightweight vehicle chassis and high-conductivity copper for the motor windings and battery packs.
The procurement team is comparing two options:
Evaluate the environmental and economic advantages of choosing Option B over Option A. In your answer, you should refer to the specific chemical and physical extraction processes involved in obtaining primary aluminium and copper from their ores.
110 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Chemistry 5.1 Obtaining and using metals, covering 5.1.1 The reactivity series of metals, 5.1.2 Displacement reactions as redox reactions, 5.1.3 Extracting metals from ores by reduction, 5.1.4 Biological methods of metal extraction, 5.1.5 Resistance to oxidation and recycling metals, and 5.1.6 Life cycle assessment. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.