Reduction Behavior of Lead Sulfate in the Presence of Solid Carbon

Abstract

The reduction of lead sulfate by carbon was investigated in order to obtain fundamental data for developing an efficient recovery process of metallic lead from lead sulfate in a spent storage battery. Lead sulfate particles mixed with carbon were heated at terminal temperatures ranging from 773 to 1173 K in a nitrogen stream with a fixed bed reactor. Metallic lead was produced remarkably from 1073 K through the reaction of lead oxide and lead sulfide after the solid carbon had been consumed. There exists an optimum amount of solid carbon that should be added to produce metallic lead efficiently from lead sulfate.