Electrochemical Reduction of Solid Lead and Antimony Sulfides in Strong Alkaline Solutions

Abstract

Extraction of lead and antimony from their sulfides without SO 2 emission is of great significance to tackle the air pollution caused by the conventional metallurgical routes. In the paper, solid PbS and Sb 2 S 3 are respectively electrochemically reduced to Pb and Sb in a 50 wt% NaOH solution. Thermodynamic analysis is conducted to illustrate the feasibility of extracting metals from their sulfides in the alkaline solution. Moreover, a home-made graphite cavity working electrode was employed to study the electrochemical reduction behaviors of PbS and Sb 2 S 3 , and their reduction processes were in situ recorded by a camera in a transparent cell. The results show that the strong alkaline solution is able to electrochemically convert PbS and Sb 2 S 3 into Pb and Sb with a current efficiency higher than 90%.

Electrochemical Reduction of Lead Sulphide in NaCl-KCl and NaCl-KCl-%2Na2S

“…On the other hand, Buzatu et al, stated that they performed their studies in the production of Pb from wastes containing PbSO4, PbO, and Pb in a NaOH based electrolyte, using stainless steel anodes and cathodes, at a current density of 600 A/m 2 , at an electrolyte temperature of 35 °C [16]. Lead in powder form production at low temperature without leaching was studied by Qu et al They stated that it is possible to produce powdered lead in 50% NaOH solutions at 120 °C, which they pelletized PbS powders [17].…”

Communication—Electrolysis of Metal Sulfides in Sulfur-Containing Carbon Saturated Iron Melt

“…[6][7][8] Therefore, how to deal with the sulfide impurities without introducing copper again in iron melt is the key to improve this method. Inspired by excellent studies [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] on electroreduction of metal sulfides in non-ferrous metallurgy, the authors propose an innovative attempt in this paper to refine metal sulfides in iron-based melts and force copper element trasfer to the outside of iron with electrochemical method.…”