Lead industry life cycle studies: environmental impact and life cycle assessment of lead battery and architectural sheet production

Abstract

Purpose This paper will give an overview of LCA studies on lead metal production and use recently conducted by the International Lead Association. Methods The lead industry, through the International Lead Association (ILA), has recently completed three life cycle studies to assess the environmental impact of lead metal production and two of the products that make up approximately 90 % of the end uses of lead, namely lead-based batteries and architectural lead sheet. Results and discussion Lead is one of the most recycled materials in widespread use and has the highest end-of-life recycling rate of all commonly used metals. This is a result of the physical chemical properties of the metal and product design, which makes lead-based products easily identifiable and economic to collect and recycle. For example, the end-oflife collection and recycling rates of lead automotive and industrial batteries and lead sheet in Europe are 99 and 95 %, respectively, making them one of the few products that operate in a true closed loop. These high recycling rates, coupled with the fact that both lead-based batteries and architectural lead sheet are manufactured from recycled material, have a beneficial impact on the results of LCA studies, significantly lowering the overall environmental impact of these products. This means that environmental impacts associated with mining and smelting of lead ores are minimised and in some cases avoided completely. The lead battery LCA assesses not only the production and end of life but also the use phase of these products in vehicles. The study demonstrates that the technological capabilities of innovative advanced lead batteries used in start-stop vehicles significantly offset the environmental impact of their production. A considerable offset is realised through the savings achieved in global warming potential when lead-based batteries are installed in passenger vehicles with start-stop and micro-hybrid engine systems which have significantly lower fuel consumption than regular engines. Conclusions ILA has undertaken LCAs which investigate the environmental impact associated with the European production of lead metal and the most significant manufactured lead products (lead-based batteries used in vehicles and architectural lead sheet for construction) to ensure up-to-date and robust data is publically and widely available.

Lead acid battery recycling for the twenty-first century

“…Lead and lead-containing compounds have been used for millennia, initially for plumbing and cookware [ 1 ], but now find application across a wide range of industries and technologies [ 2 ]. Figure 1 a shows the global quantities of lead used across a number of applications including lead-acid batteries (LABs), cable sheathing, rolled and extruded products, ammunition, alloys, pigments and gasoline additives during the latter part of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries.…”

“…A general trend of decreasing lead use occurred for most applications since the 1980s with the exception of LABs. The consumption of lead through the production of LABs increased from 0.6 Mt of lead in 1960 to 10 Mt in 2012, when it accounted for greater than 85% of lead used [ 2 ]. This increase was due to two factors, the increased number of automotive vehicles and so-called ‘deep cycle’ LABs which are popular for standby and emergency power supply, with automotive LABs accounting for 75% and deep cycle LABs 25% of the sector.…”

“…This increase was due to two factors, the increased number of automotive vehicles and so-called ‘deep cycle’ LABs which are popular for standby and emergency power supply, with automotive LABs accounting for 75% and deep cycle LABs 25% of the sector. LABs are popular, particularly in the automotive sector, because the chemistry is mature, robust and well understood and they can deliver the high, initial burst of power necessary for the starter ignition of internal combustion engines [ 2 ]. It is also worth noting that LABs are still present in state-of-the-art hybrid and fully electric vehicles due to their position as ‘the ’ energy storage device for the 12 V internal electronics [ 5 ].…”

The Environmental Burdens of Lead-Acid Batteries in China: Insights from an Integrated Material Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Lead

“…Liu undertook a LCA method for LABs used in e-bikes by accounting for twelve environmental impact categories and claimed that 95% of total lead emissions were released at the end-of-life stage [9]. According to the study of Davidson, lead production is the dominant contributor to environmental impacts in LABs and lead sheet [28]. Zhang also evaluated the life cycle environmental impacts of LABs in terms of global warming, acidification and respiratory effect, which showed that the proportion of lead in the LABs was 73.26% of the total mass and the environmental burdens were mainly caused by the consumption of lead resources [3].…”

Eco-Balance analysis of the disused lead-acid-batteries recycling technology

“…The authors point out the importance of the lead-acid batteries recycling which can lessen the environmental impact by 50%. Alistair et al [12] carried out an LCA analysis among the others for lead-acid batteries. It was found that the manufacture and production stages do not play a dominant role in the environmental impact.…”