A new process of lead recovery from waste lead-acid batteries by electrolysis of alkaline lead oxide solution

This paper reports a new lead recovery method, in which high purity metallic Pb is directly produced by electrolyzing PbO obtained from waste lead acid batteries in alkaline solution. The sodium ionic exchange membrane is used to avoid HPbO2- being oxidized to PbO2 on the anode. The new system is not only low energy consuming, but also beneficial to improving the lead recovery efficiency. Furthermore, the new recovery process realizes the circulation of the waste electrolyte, avoiding emission of lead effluent. The effect of concentration of NaOH solution on the cell voltage of the electrolytic bath was studied. Experimental results indicate that the cell voltage of electrolytic bath is 1.23 V, the current efficiency is 99.9%, the lead recovery efficiency is 99.8% and the energy consumption reaches 317 kWh ton pb(-1) at a current density of 20 mA cm(-2). Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.