Abstract: In order to understand the volatile behavior of Pb in oil shale, the pyrolysis tests were performed in laboratory with a bulk of oil shale from Huadian and Wangqing. The content of Pb in samples was determined using the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The influence of different factors on the volatility of metal Pb was analyzed, and sequential chemical extract process was used to examine the occurrence of Pb. The results show that Pb of oil shale mainly exists in the forms of the sulfide and the stable state. The content of Pb in these two conditions accounts for 74.08%~79.78%. At the same time, the volatility of Pb can be affected not only by the volatility of the individual element and its compounds, but also by the occurrence, pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, and pyrolysis atmosphere. With the temperature increasing, the volatility of Pb increases. The reduction atmosphere is favorable to the volatility of Pb than the oxidizing one.