would it be possible to produce zinc oxide by reacting zinc with aluminium oxide?

Answer 1

No. There will be no reaction.

Zinc is less reactive than Aluminium so the Aluminium will hold onto the oxygen.

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible in theory because Zinc is less electronegative than Aluminium, the later is on the right of the periodic table and in a higher position as well, so Oxigene has more afinity for Zinc, all this in theory. On the other hand Aluminium oxide is very stable thermodinamically, in fact the reaction of Aluminium and Oxigene is very exothermic, I experienced the reaction at the faculty, but you can combine pure Oxigene and pure Zinc easily (at least easier than with Aluminium, you need some activation energy for the reaction with Aluminium but after that it's more exothermic than the one with Zinc), you don't need the Aluminium Oxide.
note: Aluminium is more dense and has a smaller atomic radius than Zinc making more stable and strong bonds than with Oxigene.

http://www.webelements.com/

summarizing: NO

Answer 3

No. Zinc has a higher standard reduction potential than aluminum.
The relevant, unbalanced equation is
Zn + Al2O3 --> ZnO2 + Al
Oxidation: Zn --> Zn2+ + 2e- 0.76 V
Reduction: Al3+ + 3e- --> Al -1.66 V
The sum of the standard reduction potentials of these half-reactions is a negative number, which means the reaction does not occur.

You want the element that is being reduced to have a higher standard reduction potential than the element that is being oxidized.

Answer 4

No, like someone else said zinc is less reactive so therefore it cannot displace (take the place of) aluminium but it could be possible but the reaction would have massive activation energy

Answer 5

No, the aluminum oxide is too stable of a molecule.

Answer 6

Only at extremely high temperatures.