Smelter Division : Drawing upon three decades of experience in metal industry POCL is working to meet changing customer needs through work force development, technology, product delivery, product expansion and resource planning and management. POCL's Research and Development features an advance technology which will ensure a consistent and efficient production. POCLs' Unit IV offers the state-of-the-art automation to optimize the recovery of metals from the ore and its recycling facility is the most technologically advanced, environmentally sound and safest of its kind in the country. Perhaps, this has prompted Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board to insist on POCL presenting an exhibit of its “air pollution control measures model'”, at environmental pavilion in connection with Silver Jubilee Celebration of Pollution Control Board in February, 2007. POCL is engaged in the process of Smelting, refining and alloying of lead metal having a license to manufacture 14,000 MTs per anum.  The Company has established a State of the Art Manufacturing Plant and has taken special care to maintain the quality of each and every ingot produced using advanced testing equipments like SPECTRO and AAS. Lead being a very soft and pliable metal highly resistant to corrosion makes it suitable for various uses both as the metal and as its chemical compounds in pigments, crystal glass, pipes, sheathing, batteries, weights, fishing ropes and others. With the boom in the automobile industry lead metal is being excessively used. The largest market for lead is in battery production, which accounts to approximately two thirds of the lead produced in the world. Lead concentrates and secondary feeds are smelted in rotary furnace at 1050°C to directly produce lead bullion.. Once smelting is complete, the molten lead is removed from the smelting furnace and is casted into large blocks (called pigs) weighing 1.5 to 2.5 tonnes. These are transferred to the refining kettles which are top-access pots. We, at POCL uses pyrometallurgical refining process for refining Lead to achieve a minimum purity level of 99.97%. Our refining pots have high efficiency burners with digital temperature controllers and special arrangements for flu gas lines. All the emissions are treated through a dust collector and wet scrubber attached to an Induced Draft Fan along with a chimney/stack arrangement connected to a programmable logic controller. This helps us to keep up our social responsibilities towards pollution and gives us a clean working environment. The refining process takes place in various steps of removal of impurities and other metals from Lead such as Cu, Sb, Sn, As, etc. the process is carried by addition of various fluxes at different temperatures and quantities based on the sample taken from the homogeneous initial bath. The refining process is carried out in the molten state of lead of temperature ranging from 327ºc (Melting/fusion Point) to 650ºc (Boiling Point) performed in liquid phase, which means that the crude Lead must be melted to temperatures from 327ºC (Lead fusion point) to 650ºC (Lead boiling point). Our forte is in the process to manufacture Lead Alloys like, Lead Tin Calcium, Lead Tin, Lead Selenium Alloy, Lead Antimony Selenium Alloy, and others, which find their use in the battery industry for grid casting for Lead-Acid Batteries . We at POCL also manufacture custom made alloys as per the specifications desired by the customer with similar care and expertise. Quality Control Our Commitment Towards "QUALITY" Keeping in mind the consistency of the quality that should be maintained in Battery Industries, the Company has installed sophisticated Testing equipment namely Optical Emission Photo Spectrometer imported from M/s SPECTROLAB, Germany along with Atomic Absorbtion Spectrometer with a full fledged wet analysis lab. This helps the Company to give Lead and lead compounds of similar consistency in every batch from the first Ingot to the last Ingot produced. The principle of the analysis method of SPECTRO´s stationary metal analyzers is optical emission spectroscopy. Sample material is vaporized on the spark stand by an arc or spark discharge. The atoms and ions contained in the atomic vapour are excited into emission of radiation. The radiation emitted is passed to the spectrometer optics via an optical fibre, where it is dispersed into its spectral components. From the range of wavelengths emitted by each element, the most suitable line for the application is measured by means of a photomultiplier. The radiation intensity, which is proportional to the concentration of the element in the sample, is recalculated internally from a stored set of calibration curves and can be shown directly as percent concentration. Apart from this we also have a fully functional we analysis lab for various other tests. Pollution control plays an important part in the lead related industries. Increased sensitivities to Lead and other pollutants are resulting in stiffening of the relevant mandatory environmental standards. POCL boasts of their pollution control equipment to be one of its kind in the industry. We have PLC controlled dust collectors, wet scrubbers and much more for effective pollution control along with Proper plant design and engineering controls in order to protect our workers from occupational exposure to Lead, including control of process and fugitive emissions. We have strict codes of practice/policies/plant hygiene practices for our workforce and relevant management personnel, with the required education & training, workforce facilities and protective equipment.