TIA; for some reason the answer isn't occuring to me. Argh!
If I have Pb in solution (can be acetate or nitrate) how do I reduce it to Pb metal?
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Please elaborate how you put the Lead into solution?
Edit: I reread the header. Maybe not so easy.
Please ask the questions in the post, not in the header.
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Be aware the Lead Acetate is quite toxic and not something to play with.
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Zinc metal should reduce lead in solution, providing the solution that put the lead into solution is spent. Try a small sample.
in aqua regia and it removes it as lead chloride. The question here is not from aqua regia and the OP asked to recover it as metallic lead.
That is why I'm waiting for the OPs reply.
He do not say anything other than Nitrate or Acetate, nothing about how what or anything else.
He actually don't ask the question in his post, only the header.
If the lead is actually in a soluble salt aqueous solution, then adding an aqueous solution of sodium sulfate should drop it as lead sulfate. Lead sulfate virtually completely insoluble in aqueous solutions. The displacement equilibrium will drive the reaction to completion until no lead remains in solution. And sodium sulfate is non-toxic, so it can be added in excess with no risk.
Sorry. TIA means thanks in advance.
I'll try it. Thanks.
Sorry. TIA also means thanks in advance. I'll write it out going forward.
I figure the zinc thing should work, but let me explain the whole scheme. I'm hoping for a cheap electrolytic answer. I have cathode ray tubes with as you may know contain around 5# or so of PbO embedded in glass. So I plan on pulverizing the leaded glass and dissolving in hot acetic acid while wearing tyvek and using supplied air under a well ventilated workspace. So I'll have Pb acetate in solution while leaving the glass behind. So then what?
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Unless you grind the glass to 2000 mesh, or even finer, you will only recover as much PbO as is exposed to the Acetic acid. I couldn't even guess what the recovery rate will be, but it still may be a small percentage. I would think a smelt would be the answer, not a wet dissolution. I don't know what kind of glass the tubes are made from, so cannot give any additional flux additives at the moment. But for smelting considerations, if the glass had a melting point of around 2000 F. , the simple addition of Carbon would reduce the PbO to metallic Lead. Read Bugbee's book in the library, to find the reducing power of various Carbon compounds. Conventional baking flour is a cheap, effective Carbon reducer. Of course now you will need a hefty investment in a furnace, crucibles, tools, etc. Pour slag into cone mold, let cool, flip over, knock metallic bead off slag. I hope you have many tons of this material. I don't think it will pay.
Please provide more information.
Please provide more information.
I understand. I abandoned the smelting idea because of the high startup cost. The fine grinding is a given; your estimate of how fine helps. I've been researching outside the forum and with persistent searching with the right keywords I've been finding quite a bit of material regarding electrolytic reduction of lead. The CRT market is likely dead, and this effort is something of a last hurrah for the backyard recycler. If or when I get the project to a testing phase, I may post some results to see if anyone cares. Thank you for your input.
Are you a lead refiner? Seriously, if you are, most refiners (even the ones who don't admit it) discard their used cupels in the trash. Truth is they are hazardous waste because they do fail TCLP testing. (which the only client who ever wanted to discard them properly tested for at my suggestion) But they average 40% by weight lead. I could get you lots of samples!!!!!
I'm a refiner only if melting scrap counts as refining. Our being several hundred miles apart may be an issue since clean lead is only paying around $500/ton now. Your offer is interesting though.
500? you get 1 eur a kilo at any scrap yard here, and you still being robbed of another euro and 10 cents per kilo by selling to yards.
I know. I should be seeing $980/ton by going to a scrap yard 60 miles away, and twice that if I advertise to guys that cast their own sinkers and bullets. Note though my scheme to extract Pb from CRTs is far from production. The only Pb I'm handling now is wheel weights and solder. More Pb means a better price. I don't have that yet. Maybe my quoting a ton price was misleading when I'm only currently handling pounds, and I apologize for that, but IDK how much weight 4metals is referring to.
Refining lead from spent cupels is a market you would have to develop. A smaller refiner doing fire assays may generate a pound or two a day. Larger refiners more. You could likely get them for free but you would have to demonstrate to the EPA eventually that your method is sound. My offer was only to suggest an alternate to the dumpster to my clients so you could have samples to work with. Developing a business is on you.
