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.

Exposure to excessive levels of lead can cause damage to the brain and kidneys, impair hearing; and lead to numerous other associated problems. On average, each automobile manufactured contains approximately 12 kilograms of lead. Around 96% lead is used in the common lead-acid battery, while the remaining 4% in other applications including wheel balance weights, protective coatings, and vibration dampers.

Recycling Perspectives

Recycling of Lead-Acid Batteries is a profitable business, albeit dangerous, in developing countries. Many developing countries buy used lead-acid batteries (also known as ULABs) from industrialized countries (and the Middle East) in bulk in order to extract lead. ULAB recycling occurs in almost every city in the developing world where ULAB recycling and smelting operations are often located in densely populated urban areas with hardly any pollution control and safety measures for workers.

Usually, ULAB recycling operations release lead-contaminated waste into the environment and natural ecosystems.  In fact, Blacksmith Institute estimates that over 12 million people are affected by lead contamination from the processing of Used Lead Acid Batteries in the developing world, with South America, South Asia, and Africa being the most affected regions.

Associated Problems

The problems associated with the recycling of ULABs are well-documented and recognized by the industry and the Basel Convention Secretariat. As much of the informal ULAB recycling is small-scale and difficult to regulate or control, progress is possible only through cleanup, outreach, policy, and education.

For example, Blacksmith’s Lead Poisoning and Car Batteries Project is currently active in eight countries, including Senegal, the Dominican Republic, India, and the Philippines. The Project aims to end widespread lead poisoning from the improper recycling of ULABs, and consists of several different strategies and programs, with the most important priority being the health of children in the surrounding communities.

Lead poisoning, from improper recycling of used batteries, impacts tens of millions of people worldwide.

There is no effective means of tracking shipments of used lead-acid batteries from foreign exporters to recycling plants in the developing world which makes it difficult to trace ULABs going to unauthorized or inadequate facilities.

The Way Forward

An effective method to reduce the hazards posed by transboundary movements of ULABs is to encourage companies that generate used lead batteries to voluntarily stop exporting lead batteries to developing countries. These types of voluntary restrictions on transboundary shipments can help pressure companies involved in recycling lead batteries in developing to improve their environmental performance. It may also help encourage policymakers to close the gaps in both regulations and enforcement capacity.

Another interesting way is to encourage the regeneration of lead-acid batteries which can prolong their life significantly. The advantage of battery regeneration over regular recycling is the reduced carbon footprint incurred by mitigating the collecting, packing, shipping, and smelting of millions of tonnes of batteries and their cases. Most importantly, it takes about 25kWh of energy to remake a 15Kg, 12V 70Ah battery and just 2.1KWh to regenerate it electronically.

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.

Classification:

Generally, there are two types of Lead-acid storage batteries, based on their method of construction Flooded or Sealed. Flooded (or wet) Lead-acid batteries are those where the electrodes/plates are immersed in electrolytes. Sealed Lead-acid or valve-regulated Lead-acid (VRLA) battery where the electrolyte is immobilized. All Lead-acid batteries produce hydrogen and oxygen gas (gassing) at the electrodes during charging through a process called electrolysis. These gases are allowed to escape a flooded cell, however, the sealed cell is constructed so that the gases are contained and recombined.

Lead Acid Battery waste Recycling

The grid structure in both batteries is made from a Lead alloy. A pure Lead grid structure is not strong enough & therefore other metals like antimony, calcium, tin, and selenium in small quantities are alloyed for added strength and improved electrical properties.

The electrolyte in a Lead-acid battery is a dilute solution of sulfuric acid (H2SO4). The negative electrode of a fully charged battery is composed of sponge lead (Pb) and the positive electrode is composed of Lead dioxide (PbO). The separator is used to electrically isolate the positive and negative electrodes.

Waste Batteries

The typical Lead-acid battery comprises of: metal grids, electrode paste, Sulphuric acid, connectors and poles of Lead alloy, and grid separators made up of PVC. The battery components are contained in corrosion and heat-resistant housing usually composed of plastic (polycarbonate, polypropylene, or polystyrene).

In the past, grids were mainly made from antimony-Lead alloys, but new trends show an increase in the usage of calcium-Lead alloys. The electrode paste of used batteries is a mixture of Lead sulfate and Lead oxide. The composition of typical battery scrap material is given in Table.

Drained Lead Acid Battery Scrap

Drained Lead Acid Battery Scrap shall consist of whole drained lead/acid batteries. May contain plastic or rubber cases but may not contain wooden, metal, or glass cases. Similar to ISRI code RAINS.

This is the most preferred type of raw material for Lead recyclers/smelters or recycling/smelting Industries. We provide Rotary-based Smelting plants for processing such raw material with equipment & machines for handling & separation of Lead.

It has been found that within the U.S alone the recycling and reuse industry employs 1.1 million people, has a payroll of $37 billion, and $236 billion in gross annual sales. There has also been a study that shows that an additional 1.4 million jobs are supported by the recycling and reuse industry. Looking at these figures tells us that recycling has an enormous impact on society and our economy. If the U.S alone can create that many jobs from recycling it go to show that recycling is worth the time as not only does it create an enormous profit it also benefits the environment.

Recycling metal is vastly cheaper than mining ore and smelting it into useable metals as the mining and smelting have already been done the metal is simply melted down and reshaped. Due to the process being much shorter, less money is used. This money can be spent on other parts of the economy which in an ideal world would lead to a reduction in tax and a higher rate of pay at minimum wage across the nation.

The more materials that we decide to recycle, the more jobs that will be created in accordance with the demands put upon the recycling and reuse industry. If the number of jobs to be created was increased, we would be producing more money which would again allow us to create more jobs. The potential that the recycling industry poses is endless but the process of recycling isn’t easy enough which discourages society from even attempting to recycle.

If enough materials were recycled we would be able to spend less money on importation. Spending less money on importation would cause a drop in transport prices due to less fuel being used in the transportation process.

Another reason why recycling is of benefit to the economy is due to the fact that waste that we just throw away often finds its way to a landfill site. These landfill sites can take up a lot of room, the room which could have been used for more factories or housing estates. If the rubbish isn’t taken to a landfill site it is instead burned to produce energy but keeping the incinerators going also consumed a great deal of energy.

If you’d like to know more about conserving the environment through recycling or how the economy is supported through recycling you can enquire at your local neighborhood watch meeting. For more information on recycling metal and advice on where to sell your scrap get in touch with us at bplnigeria.com

To reduce their dependence on the import of key materials from other countries, many companies have decided to construct their own facilities for the recycling of batteries. Existing recycling methods are based on chemical extraction processes tailored for single, specific elements (mainly, lithium and cobalt). The need of the hour is a new technology/solution that will help to overcome the challenge of having separate extraction processes for various elements.

Given the challenges battery disposal presents, recycling works as an opportunity to increase profit margins and decrease footprint, which will act as additional benefits for stakeholders. Battery manufacturers are working on a unified design that will be easy to dismantle; information can also be shared about battery controlling systems’ interfaces and communication protocol.

Collaborations between private and public entities will become an important strategy for effective advanced vehicle battery recycling. Innovative business models such as the Tesla-Umicore partnership create arrangements that are as good for the company as they are for the community; they also demonstrate how a recycling system can be both profitable and environmentally sound.

Supportive regulations that focus on the recycling of Li-ion batteries will alleviate material scarcity, lower material costs, and reduce energy usage, emission, and mining-related impacts. Robust investments in collection and recycling infrastructure and technology for new-generation vehicle batteries, along with effective regulations, will promote higher collection and recycling rates for Li-ion batteries.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are still a small part of the vehicle market and the few retired EV batteries coming out of vehicles are being tested in a range of pilot-scale applications or simply stored while technology or infrastructure for recycling improves.  While the majority of consumer electronic wastes have historically been destined for the landfill, lithium batteries contain valuable metals and other materials that can be recovered, processed, and reused to make more batteries.

There are many promising strategies for recycling lithium-ion batteries (LIB), but there are also technical, economic, logistic, and regulatory barriers to resolve. As the Hitz Climate Fellow for the Union of Concerned Scientists, I’ll be taking a look at some of the challenges and opportunities for battery reuse and recycling over the next year. This is a quick overview of the current state of battery recycling which highlights opportunities to close the loop on battery materials and create a sustainable value chain for lithium batteries.

The end of life?

When an electric vehicle comes off the road, either from accident or age, battery systems will need to be processed. After primary use in a vehicle, potential end of life pathways for used electric vehicle batteries include reuse, or repurposing (“second life”), materials recovery (recycling), and disposal. Regardless of whether batteries are reused, they will eventually need to be recycled or disposed of. Understanding the opportunities and barriers to recycling is critical to reduce environmental impacts from improper disposal, and to account for benefits from recovered materials and avoided mining of virgin resources.

A handful of large-scale facilities recycle lithium batteries today using pyrometallurgical, or smelting, processes. These plants use high temperatures (~1500oC) to burn off impurities and recover cobalt, nickel, and copper.  Lithium and aluminum are generally lost in this process, bound in waste referred to as slag. Some lithium can be recovered from slag using secondary processes.  Today’s smelting facilities are expensive and energy-intensive, in part due to the need to treat toxic fluorine emissions, and have relatively low rates of material recovery.

According to the US Advanced Battery Consortium standards, an EV battery reaches the end of its usable life when its current cell capacity is less than 80% of the rated capacity. But there are still a lot of unknowns as to when EV batteries will be retired.  For example, the average vehicle is on the road in the United States for more than 12 years; modern EVs with large lithium-ion battery packs have been on the market for less than 8 years, with over 50% of sales occurring in the last two years.

A second-life for batteries

A second-life application for used batteries is an appealing opportunity for battery and vehicle manufacturers to make EVs more affordable and potentially generate more profit. Reuse also extends the lifetime of batteries, and potentially displaces some new batteries from stationary applications, all of which reduces the overall impacts of battery production.

In some cases, batteries could be refurbished for use directly in another vehicle, potentially extending the useful life of many vehicle systems. So when a battery pack dies prematurely, functioning modules and cells can often be recombined to create refurbished battery packs for other vehicles.

Given the large size and high performance of modern vehicle batteries, retired batteries could still offer significant capacity after being retired from use in a vehicle. As batteries are charged and discharged, their performance degrades. Degradation results in is less stored energy being accessible for powering the vehicle; in other words, the vehicle won’t drive as far on a single charge. But in less demanding applications, EV batteries might get a second-life.  While the high-power demands of a vehicle render stored energy inaccessible, batteries might be able to serve an additional 6 to 10 years in a lower-power, stationary application storing energy from solar panels to be used in off-grid or peak demand-shaving applications.

One key barrier for reuse has been the continually improving economics and performance of new batteries.  The price of new batteries fell over an order of magnitude while performance has improved, effectively pricing out used batteries from some applications.  The integrated construction and design of current battery packs and proprietary management software also limit component replacement and increase the costs of testing and repurposing

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