Effects of pH and Carbonate Concentration on Dissolution Rates of the Lead Corrosion Product PbO2

Lead(IV) oxide is a corrosion product that can develop on lead pipes and affect lead concentrations in drinking water. Continuously stirred flow-though reactors were used to quantify the dissolution rates of plattnerite (beta-PbO2) at different pH values and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations. Organic pH buffers were not used, because several were found to be reductants for PbO2 that accelerated its dissolution. Most plattnerite dissolution rates were on the order of 10(-10) mol/min-m(2). The rate of dissolution increased with decreasing pH and with increasing DIC. The effect of DIC is consistent with a reductive dissolution mechanism that involves the reduction of Pb(IV) to Pb(II) at the plattnerite surface followed by the formation of soluble Pb(II)-carbonate complexes that accelerate Pb(II) release from the surface. Under the experimental conditions, dissolved lead concentrations were controlled by the dissolution rate of plattnerite and not by its equilibrium solubility. A dissolution rate model was developed and can be used to predict dissolution rates of plattnerite as a function of pH and DIC.