Preparation of lead oxide from the recycled lead carbonate by vacuum decomposition technology

• Published in: Vacuum 2019-09, Vol.167, p.445-451
• Main Authors: Yong, Bo, Yang, Tian, Yang, Bin, Xu, Bao-Qiang, Liu, Da-Chun, Zhang, Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Decomposition; Effect; Lead carbonate; Lead oxide; Vacuum
• ISSN: 0042-207X; 1879-2715
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vacuum.2019.06.019

Lead acid batteries are often used, and they produce an abundant amount of lead acid battery waste, which is a source of lead carbonate. Lead oxide was manufactured via thermal decomposition in a vacuum from recycled lead carbonate that was extracted from lead acid battery waste. The decomposed products were characterized by X-ray diffraction and decomposition rate. The impact of the decomposition conditions, including temperature, preservation time, particle size and system pressure, on the lead carbonate decomposition rate were evaluated. The results show that the newly developed lead carbonate vacuum decomposition technique does a good job, and that the decomposition conditions strongly affect the lead carbonate decomposition rate and phase compositions. For instance, at a temperature range of 310–580 °C, a pressure ranging from 10 to 60 Pa, and a preservation time of 30 min, decomposition rates reached as high as 95.77%. At the temperature of 310 °C, when the preservation time increased from 30 min to 180 min, the decomposition rate increased from 29.62% to 78.40%. In terms of the effect of particle size, the mixed particles (≤20 mesh and ≤400mesh) worked best. Furthermore, the lower pressure can explain the lower temperature obtained, and the vacuum system is suited for decomposition, coinciding with a higher decomposition rate. •The principle of vacuum thermal decomposition of lead carbonate was determined.•α-PbO and β-PbO can be selectively prepared by vacuum thermal decomposition technology.•Higher temperature, longer preservation time, mixed particle granularity, and lower system pressure help to the formation of lead oxide.