Production of lead metal by molten-salt electrolysis with energy-efficient electrodes. Rept. of investigations/1991

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5202199

Murphy, J E; Chambers, M F

The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated electrode designs for electrowinning lead metal from a LiCl-KCl-PbCl2 electrolyte at 450 C. The major objective of the investigation was to decrease the energy requirement for lead electrowinning. Electrolysis was performed in a bench-scale cell using several graphite electrode assemblies. Parameters, such as electrode spacing, current density, and chlorine gas removal from the anode, were investigated in the bench-scale tests. An optimum electrode assembly, termed the sawtooth design, was scaled up and operated at 3,000 and 4,000 A. The sawtooth electrodes operating at 3,000 A produced lead for 0.66 kW times h/kg. The electrodes were constructed by cutting large triangular grooves in the electrode surfaces. The electrodes were placed together such that the triangular peaks of one electrode projected into the triangular valleys of the other electrode. Chlorine did not build up on the anode with the sawtooth electrodes.

• Research Organization: Bureau of Mines, Reno, NV (United States). Reno Research Center
• OSTI ID: 5202199
• Report Number(s): PB-92-177146/XAB; BUMINES-RI-9335
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Library of Congress catalog card no. 90-15068
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ELECTRODES
DESIGN
ELECTROMETALLURGY
ENERGY CONSERVATION
LEAD
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CHLORINE
CURRENT DENSITY
ELECTROLYSIS
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY
GRAPHITE
LEACHING
LEAD CHLORIDES
LEAD ORES
LITHIUM CHLORIDES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
POTASSIUM CHLORIDES
PROCESS DEVELOPMENT UNITS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
CARBON
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTAL MINERALS
ELEMENTS
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HALOGENS
LEAD COMPOUNDS
LEAD HALIDES
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM HALIDES
LYSIS
METALLURGY
METALS
MINERALS
NONMETALS
ORES
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
320303* - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Industrial & Agricultural Processes- Equipment & Processes