Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
11e15ce1-f4c0-48df-bb5b-39b8fcb35163
Materials
Associated ID
15e0dd65-196f-45f3-906c-094619d9922c
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
Lead oxide is commonly used in fields such as coatings and pigments, ceramics and glass, rubber processing, electronic materials, plastic stabilizers and metallurgical refining. Lead oxide is modelled as a pure substance; when modelling this substance, the user is required to add a solvent of their choice in the model. The dataset includes the main raw and auxiliary materials, energy, wastes and atmospheric emissions of the production process, in which the waste-gas treatment process is included within the dataset boundary, while infrastructure such as the manufacture of production equipment and plant construction is not included within the dataset boundary; the data inventory is formed by merging data from multiple sources; the production activities of this product include lead melting, powder making, oxidation-furnace oxidation, crushing and screening and other process steps.
Activity Description
The production operations for this product include lead melting, pulverization, furnace oxidation, crushing and screening, among others.
Process Description
Lead oxide has the chemical formula PbO and CAS number 1317-36-8. It is generally a yellow or orange-yellow, odorless powder, although some crystalline forms are red. It has a melting point of approximately 888°C and a relatively high density. It is insoluble in water and ethanol, readily soluble in acids such as acetic acid and nitric acid, and soluble in strong alkali solutions such as sodium hydroxide. It is chemically stable and does not readily oxidize at ambient temperature. At high temperatures, it can react with quartz and clay to form lead silicate. It is toxic, and prolonged exposure or inhalation is hazardous to human health. It is mainly used as a flux in ceramics and glass and as a vulcanization accelerator and reinforcing agent in rubber processing. Other applications include anticorrosive paints and pigments, lead-acid battery electrodes, semiconductor devices, piezoelectric ceramics, other lead compounds, plastic stabilizers, and metallurgical refining to remove impurities.
Time period
2009
2026
Geography
China
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
The Barton process is an advanced mainstream technology for lead oxide production. It is produced by air oxidation of metallic lead under specific conditions. The product has uniform particle size and high activity. It accounts for more than 70% of the domestic high-end lead oxide market. This data set represents the mainstream technology: the lead melting process uses electric heating, the oxidation furnace oxidation is a fully closed process, and the cooling process is indirect cooling. The main chemical reactions occur in the pulverizing process and the oxidation process. In these processes, lead is oxidized by air to form lead oxide. In the pulverizing process, about 95% of the lead is oxidized into lead oxide. About 80% of the remaining lead (surrounded by lead oxide and difficult to oxidize) is further deeply oxidized in the oxidation furnace. After crushing and packaging, the lead oxide product is obtained:
1. Lead melting: Send the purchased electrolytic lead to the lead melting furnace, which is heated to about 500°C to melt the lead ingots into liquid lead.
2. Pulverizing: The liquid lead melted and flowed out from the lead melting furnace is introduced into the pulverizing furnace through a closed connected pipe. The liquid lead centrifugally rotates at high speed in the furnace (an impeller is installed in the furnace). The temperature is controlled at about 450-460°C. The impeller rotates to make the liquid lead and The air is fully exposed to generate fine lead powder with the required oxidation degree. The lead on the surface of the lead liquid will be oxidized into lead oxide. Lead oxide is a powder substance. The powder has a small specific gravity and is easy to float (and mixed with a small amount of lead). The initially oxidized lead powder passes through the cyclone separator. The separator separates the coarse-grained lead powder from the fine-grained lead powder and returns it to the pulverizing furnace for further pulverization and oxidation.
3. Oxidation furnace oxidation: The temperature of the oxidation furnace is maintained at 600-730°C (electric heating is used during the oxidation process). The lead oxide powder produced in the pulverizing process (which also contains part of the lead) is roasted to continue deep oxidation. During the oxidation process, it is constantly stirred (continuous production) and the final product is lead oxide with extremely high purity (purity is 99%).
4. Cooling: The finished lead oxide product is cooled through the auger.
5. Crushing and screening.