Development of an eco-friendly material recycling process for spent lead glass using a mechanochemical process and Na2EDTA reagent.

To develop a novel nonheating method with lower energy consumption and higher efficiency for recovering both lead and SiO2 glass matrix from spent lead-glass powder, we attempted to treat the spent lead glass by the mechanochemical method using the metal chelate reagent, sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (Na2EDTA). As a result of the wet ball-milling treatment of spent lead-glass powder sealed in a polypropylene bottle with zirconia balls, Na2EDTA, and water at room temperature, we found that more than 99 mass % of lead contained in the spentlead-glass powder was extracted as a lead-EDTA species from the solid silica glass network matrix. This separation phenomenon was accelerated by the enlargement of the solid-liquid interface area due to ball-milling atomization and by the high stability constant of lead-EDTA.