This document discusses battery recycling and the importance of recycling batteries. It notes that while billions of batteries are purchased each year in the US, only a small percentage are recycled. Batteries contain heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and mercury that can contaminate the environment if disposed of improperly. The document outlines how different types of batteries can be recycled through various processes to recover materials like lead, nickel, and zinc. It also discusses initiatives to increase battery recycling and reduce environmental impacts.

1. 1
Battery Recycling

2. 2
Introduction
• Why should we recycle batteries?
• How does industry view battery recycling?
• How does battery recycling work?
• Recycling and other options

3. 3
Why should we recycle?
• Where does waste go?
– Landfills
• Trash storage
• Some methane
production
– Incinerators
• Energy
• Volume reduction
• Break down some
compounds

4. 4
Why should we recycle?
• Americans purchase nearly 3
billion dry-cell batteries every year.
• 350 million are rechargeable.
• Only 3-5% of primary dry cells are
recycled.
• Nearly 99 million wet-cell lead-
acid car batteries are manufactured
each year.
• A primary battery will only return
1/50 the energy used to make it.
• Batteries contain heavy metals such
as mercury, lead, cadmium, and
nickel, which can contaminate the
environment when batteries are
improperly disposed of.
• The oceans are starting to show
elevated levels of cadmium.
• NiCd batteries account for 75% of
cadmium in landfills.
• Preserve natural resources.

5. 5

6. 6
Industry and Recycling
• Companies claim it is
not economically
profitable.
– Transportation
– Sorting
• Lead acid batteries are
the most recycled
product.

7. 7
How recycling works
• Lead Acid Recycling
– Plastic is broken up
and reused
– Lead and lead oxide is
smelted
– Sulfuric acid is
reclaimed

8. 8
Pyrometallurgical and
Hydrometallurgical extraction
• Allows metals to be reclaimed
from oxides.
• PbO(s) + CO(g)  Pb(s) +
CO2(g)
• Hydrometallurgical extraction
• Cu2+(aq) + H2(g)  Cu(s) +2H+

9. 9
Recycling other types of batteries
• NiCd
– batteries can be reprocessed
through a similar thermal
technique
• NiMH
– The output of this process is a
product with high nickel content
which can be used in the
manufacture of stainless steel.
• Li-Ion
– currently reprocessed through
pyrolysis (heat treatment) with the
primary recovery the metal
content.
• Zinc-carbon/air and alkaline-
manganese
– can be reprocessed using a number
of different methods, which
include smelting and other
thermal-metallurgical processes to
recover the metal content
(particularly zinc).
• Batteries containing mercury
– Most commonly processed using a
vacuum-thermal treatment

10. 10
Advances
• Mercury battery act
– Phase out mercury
– Increase Recycling
• Rechargeable Battery
Recycling Corporation
– Since 1994, RBRC has
recycled more than 20
million pounds of
rechargeable batteries.
• Battery Counsel
International

11. 11
Solutions
• Purchase rechargeable
batteries.
• Use solar power
• Battery Deposit
• Make companies take
back products they sell.
• Make batteries easier to
recycle.

12. 12
Resources
• www.epa.gov
• www.energy.gov
• www.wasteonline.org.uk
• www.bbc.co.uk
• http://www.batteryrecycling.com/index.html
• Inorganic Chemistry (Shriver, Atkins)
• Recycling of Consumer Dry Cell batteries (Hurd et al.)
• http://www.relfe.com/IDetoxamin/cadmium_toxicity.htm
• www.zerowasteamerica.org