INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY FOR RECYCLING LEAD-BEARING MATERIALS BY ELECTRO-REFINING WITHOUT SODA

摘要

Lead is widely used in different sectors of industry and its production is continually increasing, since in many cases there are no feasible substitutes. Lead is produced both from ore-based raw materials and from secondary materials - mainly discarded batteries. Obtaining quality lead concentrates from a polymetallic raw material is a technologically challenging and costly process. From an economic standpoint, it is more advantageous to recycle secondary raw materials with a high concentration of lead. Improving the technology used to recycle battery scrap is being given high priority in our country, especially since there is not expected to be any substantial increase in investment on the mining of lead-bearing ores. The recycling of secondary lead-bearing raw materials in Russia is complicated by the exceedingly stringent environmental standards: the maximum allowable concentrations of lead in the air are 0.0003 and 0.005 mg/m~3 (monthly average) for residential and industrial areas, respectively.