Electrodeposition of Lead from Chloride Melts

Abstract

Pure lead can be produced by electrowinning or electrorefining in molten salts. Another potential application of lead deposition is related to the recycling of waste. Steady state cathodic current versus potential relations were found to be linear in pure molten lead chloride at 550 - 585 oC. On a tungsten microelectrode the linear behaviour was measured over a wide range; up to 700 A cm-2 and 3 V. The rate of the Pb deposition reaction is believed to be controlled by the transport of Pb containing species by migration in the electrolyte. In dilute solutions of lead chloride in molten KCl-LiCl at 400 oC, the cathodic deposition of lead was found to be diffusion controlled with the influence of nucleation on substrates of glassy carbon, tungsten and molybdenum.