May 23, 2019: One for the diary. A short course discussing the basic tools of metallurgical thermodynamics and their application, with a special focus on lead recycling will be held at the 6th International Secondary Lead Conference, on September 2 between1.30pm and 3.00pm.

6ISLC, which runs between September 2-3, is held in the run-up to the largest lead conference of the year, the Asian Battery Conference September 3-6. Both conferences are set in Bali, Indonesia.

The course will start with interpreting phase diagrams and then discuss the thermodynamics of lead production and how recycling processes make use of these principles.

Secondary smelters face different challenges than primary smelters typically dealing with different processes and starting from battery fractions containing Pb, PbSO₄, and PbO₂. Dealing with sulfur is a different process. Secondary lead smelting has its own multicomponent slag system, which is robust, but because of its robustness, not always fully understood nor optimally applied.

“As Fe and Na₂CO₃ are added to generate sulfides and sulfates, this requires the understanding of more than the Pb-O-S system. Moreover, the different phases (slag, matte, lead) are not strictly oxidic, sulfidic, or metallic,” says the course instructor.