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Which furnaces are used for secondary lead refining?
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lead processing
A zinc-lead blast furnace and lead-splash condenser. This technology is utilized mainly for producing zinc while managing both lead and zinc from raw materials, a technique that was highly influential in 20th-century smelting.
Secondary lead refining, which involves processing lead derived from scrap materials like automobile batteries, typically utilizes the following types of furnaces:
- Reverberatory furnaces: These are commonly used in refineries dedicated to handling secondary lead and lead alloys.1
- Blast furnaces: These are also standard in secondary lead processing facilities.1
- Rotary furnaces: These batch kilns, which rotate during the smelting process, are increasingly used for secondary lead refining, particularly at sites that also process primary lead.1
The recycling process generally involves treating and separating scrap, smelting the lead-containing fractions, and then refining and alloying the resulting lead bullion into a commercial product.1