The dull grey colour of lead pipes and cables is caused by the oxygen of the air combining with the metal so as to form a very thin film or skin composed of an oxide of lead. Lead is not at all easily corroded or eaten away. Unlike iron and steel, it does not need protection by painting. Underneath the film, lead is a bright, shiny bluish-white metal. When you scrape it you notice how soft lead is. It is this softness that makes it easy to squeeze or roll lead into different shapes.

For winemakers in the Roman Empire, nothing but lead would do. When boiling crushed grapes, Roman vintners insisted on using lead pots or lead-lined copper kettles. “For, in the boiling,” wrote Roman winemaker Columella, “brazen vessels throw off copper rust which has a disagreeable flavour.” Lead’s sweet overtones, by contrast, were thought to add complementary flavours to wine and to food as well. The metal enhanced one-fifth of the 450 recipes in the Roman Apician Cookbook, a collection of first through fifth century recipes attributed to gastrophiles associated with Apicius, the famous Roman gourmet. From the Middle Ages on, people put lead acetate or “sugar of lead” into wine and other foods to make them sweeter. Lead touched many areas of Roman life. It made up pipes and dishes, cosmetics and coins, and paints. Eventually, as a host of mysterious maladies became more common, some Romans began to suspect a connection between the metal and these illnesses. But the culture’s habits never changed, and some historians believe that many among the Roman aristocracy suffered from lead poisoning.

Julius Caesar, for example, managed to father only one child, even though he enjoyed women as much as he enjoyed wine. His successor, Caesar Augustus, was reported to be completely sterile. Some scholars suggest that lead could have been the culprit for the condition of both men and a contributing factor to the fall of the Roman Empire. A form of lead intoxication known as saturnine gout takes its name from ancient Rome. Saturn was a demonic god, a gloomy and sluggish figure who ate his own children. The Romans noticed similarities between symptoms of this disorder and the irritable god, and named the disease after him. Scientists have since learned that while there are similarities between saturnine gout and primary gout, such as elevated blood uric acid levels, these are in fact two distinct diseases that could not have been cured.

Lead was also used widely for fashioning decorative objects. The oldest known lead-containing object made by human hands is a small statue found in Turkey, from 6,500 B.C. Egyptian Pharaohs between 3,000 and 4,000 B.C. used lead to glaze pottery. Lead was useful as well in construction. The Babylonians and the Assyrians used soldered lead sheets to fasten bolts and construct buildings. The Chinese used lead to make coins 4,000 years ago, as did the ancient Greeks and Romans. Early warriors made bullets out of it, and gladiators covered their fists with leaden knuckles.

Lead found new uses in the one of the fifteenth century’s greatest advancements, the printing press, where it was used to produce moveable type. During the same period, stained glass windows held together by lead frames decorated medieval churches, and architects used lead to seal spaces between stone blocks and to frame roof installations.

In BPL case we would be using the secondary lead which we get from scrap batteries which we have been collecting over the years.

Most of the lead produced comes from secondary sources. Lead scrap includes lead-acid batteries, cable coverings, pipes, sheets and lead coated, or terne bearing, metals. Solder, product waste and dross may also be recovered for its small lead content. Most secondary lead is used in batteries.

To recover lead from a battery, the battery is broken, and the components are classified. The lead containing components are processed in blast furnaces for hard lead or rotary reverberatory furnaces for fine particles. The blast furnace is similar in structure to a cupola furnace used in iron foundries. The furnace is charged with slag, scrap iron, limestone, coke, oxides, dross, and reverberatory slag. The coke is used to melt and reduce the lead. Limestone reacts with impurities and floats to the top. This process also keeps the lead from oxidizing. The molten lead flows from the blast furnace into holding pots. Lead may be mixed with alloys, including antimony, tin, arsenic, copper, and nickel. It is then cast into ingots.

Smelting of Lead helps in putting recycling process, whereby instead of just throwing away scrap batteries, these scrap can be put into good use of getting the ingots and individuals getting some money instead of just discarding their scrap batteries.

At the heart of most electronics, today are rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). But their energy storage capacities are not enough for large-scale energy storage systems (ESSs). Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) could be useful in such a scenario due to their higher theoretical energy storage capacity. They could even replace LIBs in other applications like drones, given their lightweight and lower cost.

But the same mechanism that is giving them all this power is keeping them becoming a widespread practical reality. Unlike LIBs, the reaction pathway in LSBs leads to an accumulation of solid lithium sulfide (Li₂S₆) and liquid lithium polysulfide (LiPS), causing a loss of active material from the sulfur cathode (positively charged electrode) and corrosion of the lithium anode (negatively charged electrode). To improve battery life, scientists have been looking for catalysts that can make this degradation efficiently reversible during use.

In a new study published in ChemSusChem, scientists from Gwangju Institute of Technology (GIST), Korea, report their breakthrough in this endeavor. “While looking for a new electrocatalyst for the LSBs, we recalled a previous study we had performed with cobalt oxalate (CoC₂O₄) in which we had found that negatively charged ions can easily adsorb on this material’s surface during electrolysis. This motivated us to hypothesize that CoC₂O₄ would exhibit similar behavior with sulfur in LSBs as well,” explains Prof. Jaeyoung Lee from GIST, who led the study.

To test their hypothesis, the scientists constructed an LSB by adding a layer of CoC₂O₄ on the sulfur cathode.

Sure enough, observations and analyses revealed that CoC₂O₄‘s ability to adsorb sulfur allowed the reduction and dissociation of Li₂S₆ and LiPS. Further, it suppressed the diffusion of LiPS into the electrolyte by adsorbing LiPS on its surface, preventing it from reaching the lithium anode and triggering a self-discharge reaction. These actions together improved sulfur utilization and reduced anode degradation, thereby enhancing the longevity, performance, and energy storage capacity of the battery.

Charged by these findings, Prof. Lee envisions an electronic future governed by LSBs, which LIBs cannot realize. “LSBs can enable efficient electric transportation such as in unmanned aircrafts, electric buses, trucks and locomotives, in addition to large-scale energy storage devices,” he observes. “We hope that our findings can get LSBs one step closer to commercialization for these purposes.”

Perhaps, it’s only a matter of time before lithium-sulfur batteries power the world.

ML And Battery Life Cycle

The research team has been working to develop a long-lasting electric vehicle battery that can be charged in 10 minutes.

“Battery technology is important for any type of electric powertrain. By understanding the fundamental reactions that occur within the battery we can extend its life, enable faster charging and ultimately design better battery materials. We look forward to building on this work through future experiments to achieve lower-cost, better-performing batteries,” said Patrick Herring, a senior scientist of Toyota Research Institute.

Earlier studies used more conventional machine learning forms to accelerate battery testing and find out the best charging method. Though the studies made major progress in determining battery lifetime, they did not reveal much about the science behind why a few batteries last longer than the others.

The current research teaches machines how to learn a new type of failure mechanism to design better and safer fast-charging batteries. In general, fast charging stresses and damages the battery. Better practices would help battery technology and fight climate change, the team said. Further, this approach can be used for developing grid-scale battery systems for producing wind and solar electricity.

The team was able to optimize the fast charging protocol for lithium-ion batteries within a month using machine learning. Without ML, this would usually take two years. “At the end of the day, we see our job as accelerating the pace of battery R&D. Whether it’s discovering new chemistry or finding a way to make a safer battery, it’s all very time-consuming. We’re trying to save time,” said Will Chueh, an associate professor at Stanford University, who also led the study. 

The Experiment

For this experiment, the team took a closer look at the Lithium ions movement between the cathode and anode — made of nano-sized grains lumped together as particles — during charging and discharging. In particular, the behavior of cathode particles, comprising nickel, manganese, and cobalt (NMC), were observed in detail. NMC is the most widely used material in electric vehicle batteries. The particles absorb lithium ions when the battery is discharging and release them when the battery is charging.

The team got an overall look at the particles when the battery was being fast charged using X-rays from SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. The same particles were later examined with scanning X-ray transmission microscopy, which focuses on individual particles. The data obtained from these experiments; information from mathematical models on fast charging; and physics and chemistry equations were used in the scientific machine learning algorithm. The team said this is the first time scientific machine learning has been used in battery technology.

With these differences in chemistry come differences in performance and cost. While both lithium-ion and lead-acid battery options can be effective storage solutions, here’s how they stack up when compared head to head in key categories:

Lithium-ion vs. lead-acid batteries: who wins?

In most cases, lithium-ion battery technology is superior to lead-acid due to its reliability and efficiency, among other attributes. However, in cases of small off-grid storage systems that aren’t used regularly, less expensive lead-acid battery options can be preferable.

In detail: how do lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries compare?

Lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries can both store energy effectively, but each has unique advantages and drawbacks. Here are some important comparison points to consider when deciding on a battery type:

Cost

The one category in which lead-acid batteries seemingly outperform lithium-ion options is in their cost. A lead-acid battery system may cost hundreds or thousands of dollars less than a similarly-sized lithium-ion setup – lithium-ion batteries currently cost anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 including installation, and this range can go higher or lower depending on the size of system you need.

While lead-acid batteries typically have lower purchase and installation costs compared to lithium-ion options, the lifetime value of a lithium-ion battery evens the scales. Below, we’ll outline other important features of each battery type to consider, and explain why these factors contribute to an overall higher value for lithium-ion battery systems.

Capacity

A battery’s capacity is a measure of how much energy can be stored (and eventually discharged) by the battery. While capacity numbers vary between battery models and manufacturers, lithium-ion battery technology has been well-proven to have a significantly higher energy density than lead-acid batteries. This means that more energy can be stored in a lithium-ion battery using the same physical space. Because you can store more energy with lithium-ion technology, you can discharge more energy, thus power more appliances for longer periods of time.

Depth of discharge

A battery’s depth of discharge is the percentage of the battery that can be safely drained of energy without damaging the battery. While it is normal to use 85 percent or more of a lithium-ion battery’s total capacity in a single cycle, lead-acid batteries should not be discharged past roughly 50 percent, as doing so negatively impacts the lifetime of the battery. The superior depth of discharge possible with lithium-ion technology means that lithium-ion batteries have an even higher effective capacity than lead-acid options, especially considering the higher energy density in lithium-ion technology mentioned above.

Efficiency

Just like solar panel efficiency, battery efficiency is an important metric to consider when comparing different options. Most lithium-ion batteries are 95 percent efficient or more, meaning that 95 percent or more of the energy stored in a lithium-ion battery is actually able to be used. Conversely, lead-acid batteries see efficiencies closer to 80 to 85 percent. Higher efficiency batteries charge faster, and similarly to the depth of discharge, improved efficiency means a higher effective battery capacity.

Lifespan

Batteries are also similar to solar panels in that they degrade over time and become less effective as they age. Discharging a battery to power your home or appliances and then recharging it with solar energy or the grid counts as one “cycle”. The numbers vary from study to study, but lithium-ion batteries generally last for several times the number of cycles as lead-acid batteries, leading to a longer effective lifespan for lithium-ion products.

When should you install a lead-acid battery vs. a lithium-ion battery?

If you need a battery backup system, both lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries can be effective options. However, it’s usually the right decision to install a lithium-ion battery given the many advantages of the technology – longer lifetime, higher efficiencies, and higher energy density. Despite having higher upfront costs, lithium-ion batteries are usually more valuable than lead-acid options.

One case where lead-acid batteries may be the better decision is in a scenario with an off-grid solar installation that isn’t used very frequently. For example, keeping a lead-acid battery on a boat or RV as a backup power source that is only used every month or so is a less expensive option than lithium-ion, and due to the lower usage rate, you’ll avoid many of the drawbacks of lead-acid technology, such as their shorter lifespan.

Storage and solar go well together – compare quotes today

With any large purchase like solar and batteries (paired or separately), you want to consider your options. You can sign up on the EnergySage Marketplace to receive turnkey quotes for solar installation from pre-screened local solar installers. If battery storage is something you’re interested in pairing with your system, we recommend adding a note in your account preferences specifying you’re interested in pricing and information about batteries. Even if a solar installer doesn’t install batteries themselves, they can design a solar panel system so that you can