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The Manufacturing Process of Lead

The document outlines the 8-step manufacturing process for producing lead: 1) Mining lead-bearing ore underground and transporting it for processing 2) Concentrating the ore by crushing it into small particles and separating waste rock 3) Using flotation to separate sulfide particles containing lead from waste rock with pine oil and air bubbles 4) Filtering the concentrated ore to remove 90% of water before shipping for further refining 5) Roasting the ore mix with limestone and sand at high heat to combust sulfur and produce sintered lead oxide 6) Blast furnace processing of sinter with coke fuel to produce molten lead and slag byproducts 7) Refining the

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JACKULIN DAFNEE
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229 views

The Manufacturing Process of Lead

The document outlines the 8-step manufacturing process for producing lead: 1) Mining lead-bearing ore underground and transporting it for processing 2) Concentrating the ore by crushing it into small particles and separating waste rock 3) Using flotation to separate sulfide particles containing lead from waste rock with pine oil and air bubbles 4) Filtering the concentrated ore to remove 90% of water before shipping for further refining 5) Roasting the ore mix with limestone and sand at high heat to combust sulfur and produce sintered lead oxide 6) Blast furnace processing of sinter with coke fuel to produce molten lead and slag byproducts 7) Refining the

Uploaded by

JACKULIN DAFNEE
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF

LEAD

PROCESS INVOLVED,
 MINING THE ORE
 CONCENTRATING THE ORE
 FLOTATION
 FILTERING
 ROASTING THE ORE
 BLASTING
 REFINING
 CASTING
1.MINING OF ORE

i. The first step in retrieving lead-bearing ore is to mine it


underground.
ii. Workers using heavy machinery drill the rock from deep tunnels
with heavy machinery or blast it with dynamite, leaving the ore in
pieces.
iii. Then they shovel the ore onto loaders and trucks, and haul it to a
shaft.
iv. The shaft at a large mine may be a mile or more from the drill or
blast site.
v. The miners dump the ore down the shaft, and from there it is
hoisted to the surface.
2.CONCENTRATING OF ORE

i. After the ore is removed from the mine, it is treated at a


concentrating mill.
ii. Concentrating means to remove the waste rock from the lead.
iii. To begin, the ore must be crushed into very small pieces.
iv. The ore is ground at the mill, leaving it in particles with diameters
of 0.1 milli meter or less.
v. This means the individual granules are finer than table salt. The
texture is something like granulated sugar.
3.FLOTATION
i. The principal lead ore, galena, is properly known as lead sulfide, and sulfur makes up a
substantial portion of the mineral.The flotation process collects the sulfur-bearing portions of
the ore, which also contains the valuable metal.
ii. First, the finely crushed ore is diluted with water and then poured into a tank called a
flotation cell. The ground ore and water mixture is called slurry.
iii. One percent pine oil or a similar chemical is then added to the slurry in the tank. The tank
then agitates, shaking the mixture violently. The pine oil attracts the sulfide particles.
iv. Then air is bubbled through the mixture. This causes the sulfide particles to form an oily froth
at the top of the tank.
v. The waste rock, which is called gangue, sinks to the bottom. The flotation process is
controlled by means of X-ray analyzers. A flotation monitor in the control room can check
the metal content of the slurry using the X-ray analysis. Then, with the aid of a computer, the
monitor may adjust the proportion of the chemical additive to optimize recovery of the
metal.
vi. Other chemicals are also added to the flotation cell to help concentrate the minerals. Alum
and lime aggregate the metal, or make the particles larger.
vii. Xanthate is also added to the slurry, in order to help the metal particles float to the surface.
viii. At the end of the flotation process, the lead has been separated from the rock, and other
minerals too, such as zinc and copper, have been separated out.
4.FILTERING

i. After the ore is concentrated in the flotation cells, it flows to a filter,


which removes up to 90% of the water.
ii. The concentrate at this point contains from 40-80% lead, with large
amounts of other impurities, mostly sulfur and zinc. It is ready at this
stage to be shipped to the smelter.
iii. The gangue, or rock that was not mineral-bearing, must be pumped
out of the flotation tank.
iv. It may be dumped into a pond resembling a natural lake, and when
the pond eventually fills, the land can be replanted.
5.ROASTING OF ORE

i. The lead concentrate fresh from the filter needs to be further


refined to remove the sulfur.
ii. After the concentrate is unloaded at what is called the sinter
plant, it is mixed with other lead-bearing materials and with sand
and limestone. Then the mixture is spread on a moving grate.
iii. Air which has been heated to 2,550°F (1,400°C) blows through the
grate.
iv. Coke is added as fuel, and the sulfur in the ore concentrate
combusts to sulfur dioxide gas. This sulfur dioxide is an important
byproduct of the lead refining process. It is captured at a separate
acid plant and converted to sulfuric acid, which has many uses.
v. After the ore has been roasted in this way, it fuses into a brittle
material called sinter. The sinter is mostly lead oxide, but it can also
contain oxides of zinc, iron, and silicon, some lime, and sulfur. As
the sinter passes off the moving grate, it is broken into lumps. The
lumps are then loaded into the blast furnace.
6.BLASTING

i. The sinter falls into the top of the blast furnace, along with coke
fuel.
ii. A blast of air comes through the lower part of the furnace,
combusting the coke.
iii. The burning coke generates a temperature of about 2,200°F
(1,200°C) and produces carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide
reacts with the lead and other metal oxides, producing molten
lead, nonmetallic waste slag, and carbon dioxide.
iv. Then the molten metal is drawn off into drossing kettles or molds.
7.REFINING
i. The molten lead as it comes from the blast
furnace is from 95-99% pure. It is called at
this point base bullion.
ii. It must be further refined to remove
impurities, because commercial lead must
be from 99-99.999% pure. To refine the
bullion, it is kept in the drossing kettle at a
temperature just above its melting point,
about 626°F (330°C). At this temperature,
any copper left in the bullion rises to the top
of the kettle and forms a scum or dross
which can be skimmed off.
iii. Gold and silver can be removed from the
bullion by adding to it a small quantity of
zinc. The gold and silver dissolves more easily
in zinc than in lead, and when the bullion is
cooled slightly, a zinc dross rises to the top,
bringing the other metals with it.
8.CASTING

i. When the lead has been sufficiently refined, it is cooled and cast
into blocks which may weigh as much as a ton. This is the finished
product.
ii. Lead alloys may also be produced at the smelter plant. In this case
metals are added to the molten lead in precise proportions to
produce a lead material for specific industrial uses.
iii. For example the lead commonly used in car batteries, and also for
pipe, sheet, cable sheathing, and ammunition, is alloyed with
antimony because this increases the metal's strength.
THANK YOU!..

~ JACKULIN E

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