Pb has been added to bronze to increase its machinability. However, due to the extreme toxicity of Pb that is harmful to the health, the public demand for the use of Pb-free bronze has increased. Therefore, scrap bronze containing Pb cannot be utilized as a recycling material and a large amount of scrap bronze will become industrial waste. So, it is necessary to remove Pb in the scrap bronze to promote recycling.
In the present study, the use of the compound-separation method is attempted for the removal of Pb from bronze containing 5.5 mass%Pb. The result shows that the percentage of Pb removal was effective up to 82% when NaF was added to molten bronze, followed by adding a Ca-Si compound.
