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Metal Industries
Published in Charles E. Baukal, Industrial Combustion Pollution and Control, 2003
Lead is made through primary and secondary processes. Since traditional industrial combustion processes are not used in primary processes, only secondary smelting is considered here where recycled metal is used in a smelting furnace. There are three major operations in secondary lead smelting: scrap pretreatment, smelting, and refining [89]. Scrap pretreatment includes removal of large contaminants, shredding large pieces, draining fluids, and possibly drying wet materials. Smelting is used to separate the lead from metallic and nonmetallic contaminants and reduce lead oxides to elemental lead. This is usually done in a blast, reverberatory, or rotary furnace. The pretreated scrap, slag to be reprocessed, scrap iron, coke, recycled dross, flue dust, and limestone are charged into the furnace. As the charge melts, the limestone and iron float to the top of the molten bath and form a flux that retards oxidation of the elemental lead. The molten lead is then tapped into a holding pot before being cast into large ingots called pigs or sows. A typical process flow schematic for the refining process is shown in Fig. 13.38. If required, further refining is done in a refining furnace to remove either copper and antimony for soft lead production or to remove arsenic, copper, and nickel for hard lead production.
Biological Monitoring of Metal Exposure
Published in Stephen K. Hall, Joana Chakraborty, Randall J. Ruch, Chemical Exposure and Toxic Responses, 2020
Chronic metal poisoning can occur at home, in the work place, or anywhere in the environment. Chronic lead poisoning at home has been a major public health problem for many years. Lead-based paints represent an important source of excessive lead intake in children. In the work place, lead smelting and refining are particularly hazardous with respect to exposure to lead. Mercury exposure is an important problem in the chloralkaline industry. The presence of high concentrations of arsenic in artesian well water is the cause of chronic environmental arsenic poisoning in southern Taiwan.
Spatial Distribution and Correlative Study of the Total and the Available Heavy Metals in Soil From a Typical Lead Smelting Area, China
Published in Soil and Sediment Contamination: An International Journal, 2018
Linlin Zhang, Shijian Dai, Xiaoxue Zhao, Wei Nie, Jungang Lv
Lead smelting caused serious heavy metal pollution to the surrounding soil, especially cadmium and lead pollution. Both them were by far higher than the national farmland quality standard. No matter according to the limits in Environmental Quality Standard for Soils or the background value of soil, the cadmium pollution is the significantly serious. The result was consistent with the conclusion of pollution in farmland soil in lead-zinc mining area (Li, Zhang, Deng 2009) and copper mine area (Dou, Chen, Zhou 2015). So cadmium pollution should be emphasized in these heavy metal mining areas.