Lead acid battery recycling for the twenty-first century

Abstract

There is a growing need to develop novel processes to recover lead from end-of-life lead-acid batteries, due to increasing energy costs of pyrometallurgical lead recovery, the resulting CO2 emissions and the catastrophic health implications of lead exposure from lead-to-air emissions. To address these issues, we are developing an iono-metallurgical process, aiming to displace the pyrometallurgical process that has dominated lead production for millennia. The proposed process involves the dissolution of Pb salts into the deep eutectic solvent (DES) Ethaline 200, a liquid formed when a 1 : 2 molar ratio of choline chloride and ethylene glycol are mixed together. Once dissolved, the Pb can be recovered through electrodeposition and the liquid can then be recycled for further Pb recycling. Firstly, DESs are being used to dissolve the lead compounds (PbCO3, PbO, PbO2 and PbSO4) involved and their solubilities measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The resulting Pb2+ species are then reduced and electrodeposited as elemental lead at the cathode of an electrochemical cell; cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry are being used to determine the electrodeposition behaviour and mechanism. The electrodeposited films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We discuss the implications and opportunities of such processes.

Current State and Future Prospects for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion Systems

“…In a standard Pb-A battery cell PbO 2 is used as the cathode and Pb as the anode with sulphuric acid used as an electrolyte. The chemistry of this type of battery system is considered mature, robust and well understood, with Pb-A batteries considered one of the most technologically developed and commercially successful battery systems [75,76]. The complete composition of the various constituents of these batteries by percentage weight is given in Table 4.…”

A Review on Battery Market Trends, Second-Life Reuse, and Recycling

“…Currently at the end-of-life, some battery chemistries are collected from waste streams because of strict government regulations (e.g., lead-acid batteries), resulting in mature recycling and resource recovery technologies. The recycling rates of LABs in the developed regions including the US and EU reach to 98~99% [6,7] compared to an approximately 80-85% recycling rate reported in China [8]. Low rates of LAB recycling in developing countries and regions have led to significant environmental and health concerns [7].…”

Failure Warning at the End of Service-Life of Lead–Acid Batteries for Backup Applications

“…Lead-acid batteries are widely accepted across industries, and commonly used as clean-energy storage, in automotive vehicles, and as standby and emergency power supplies [1,2]. The estimation of remaining service-life is an important output of battery management systems (BMS) [3,4] and failure warning of BMS is direct instruction for battery replacement.…”