Recovery of indium and lead from lead bullion

Abstract

Lead and indium were recovered by electrolysis and nonequilibrium solvent extraction process from lead bullion. The effects of current density, electrolytic period and circle amount of electrolyte on the electrochemical dissolution of lead and indium were investigated. The effects of extraction phase ratio and mixing time on solvent extraction of indium and striping phase ratio and stripping stage on the loaded organic phase stripping were also investigated. The experimental results indicate that under optimum conditions, the purity of lead deposited on cathode is 98.5% and the deposit rate of lead is 99.9%, the dissolution rate of indium is 94.28%, the extraction rate of indium is 98.69%, the stripping rate of indium is almost 100%, and the impurity elements, such as Zn, Fe and Sn can be removed.

Keywords

lead bullion / indium / electrochemical dissolution / nonequilibrium solvent extraction