A green and cost-effective process for recovery of high purity α-PbO from spent lead acid batteries. (10th September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Nana; Senthil, Raja Arumugam; Zhang, Xuan; Pan, Junqing; Sun, Yanzhi; Liu, Xiaoguang
• Is Part Of: Journal of cleaner production. Volume 267(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-09-10
• Subjects: Recovery of α-PbO -- High purity -- Green approach -- Electrode material -- Lead acid batteries; Factory and trade waste -- Management -- Periodicals; Manufactures -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Usines -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; 628.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122107
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-6526

Abstract

Abstract: Herein, we propose a green, cost-effective and short-loop route for recovering high-purity α-lead oxide (α-PbO) from spent lead-acid batteries. This newly proposed route consists of leaching, carbonation and thermal decomposition processes. In the leaching process, the lead sulfate (PbSO4 ) from spend lead paste was reacted with conjugated solution of ammonium sulfate-ammonia ((NH4 )2 SO4 –NH3 ) to form a soluble complex. The dissolved PbSO4 in the conjugated solution was converted into lead carbonate (PbCO3 ) precipitate via absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2 ). Afterwards, the high-purity α-PbO was obtained by thermal decomposition of PbCO3 . Results show that the leaching rate of PbSO4 from lead paste reaches up to 99.8 ± 0.15%, the recovery rate of lead is 99.85% and the purity of the obtained α-PbO is as high as 99.992%, indicating the recovered α-PbO has high purity. As well, the recovered α-PbO shows a better electrochemical activity than the conventional Shimadzu ball-milling method. Beside of recovering high-purity α-PbO, the used raw materials of conjugated solution and the intermediate product of CO2 could be collected and utilized in the next batch. Therefore, the present work develops a new green and economic route to solve the recovery problems of high purity α-PbO from spent lead-acid batteries. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: A new conjugated solution proposed for the recovery of α-PbO from waste lead paste. PbO is recovered via leaching, carbonization, and thermal decomposition processes. The recovered PbO has a litharge (α-PbO) structure with a high purity of 99.992%. The lead recovery rate achieved to 99.85% and conjugated solution can be recycled. The recovered α-PbO has superior electrochemical activity than the traditional PbO.