Electrodeposition of Lead from Chloride Melts

With the introduction of plasma and LCD screens for computers and TV, the conventional Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT), which have been used for the past three decades are being phased out. These tubes pose a serious environmental problem as the lead content in these glasses are as high as 18 wt%. Today, there are no processes to recycle these CRT tubes, which are piled up in the dumps. Thus, there is an urgent and acute need to develop a process to extract the lead values from these glasses. Dissolution of such waste in molten salts followed by electrodeposition of lead is a possible processing route.