Battery manufacturers

There are hundreds of primary battery manufacturers, most of which are limited to a specialty product or a limited national market. However, a number of multinational battery suppHers have manufacturing faciUties in many countries and a broad line of products. Table 4 Hsts the companies having sales of primary batteries of greater than 100 million per annum together with the regions of their headquarters and their product lines. 

Fig. 4. Flow sheet of plate processing and battery manufacturing.

The separator must be stmcturaHy sound to withstand the rigors of battery manufacturing, and chemically inert to the lead—acid cell environment. Numerous materials have been used for separators ranging from wood, paper, and mbber to glass and plastic. The majority of separators used are either nonwoven—bound glass or microporous plastic such as PVC or polyethylene. 

The majority of batteries manufactured are suppHed as wet, ie, acid in the formed battery, battery products, and thus utilize in-container formation. Some dry charged product where plates are washed and dried after formation, and moist, dumped and/or centrifuged, batteries are produced for some appHcations and markets (103). 

An estimate of world calcium consumption in 1986 indicated that lead refining uses 30% alloys, eg, with Pb, Al, and Si, 25% steel treatment, 20% calciothermic reduction, 10% calcium hydride, 10% and miscellaneous usage is 5%. More recent evidence, however, has suggested that increasing consumption of calcium in battery manufacture has made this the most significant use. 

Surface Coating of Metal Furniture Stationary Gas Turbines Lime Manufacturing Plants Lead-Acid Battery Manufacturing Plants Metallic Mineral Processing Plants Automobile and Light-Duty Truck Surface Coating Operations... 

Adhesives and sealants Aluminum forming Asbestos manufacturing Auto and other laundries Battery manufacturing Coal mining Coil coating Copper forming... 

Ammoruum sulfate manufacturing Lead acid battery manufacturing... 

The following Is a hypothetical example of how one manufacturer might complete the toxic chemical release inventory reporting Form R. The facility information is purely fictitious and does not represent any known manufacturing facility. The example begins with descriptions of the facility (a lead-acid storage battery manufacturer) and of the production process at the faciiity. The completion of each section of Form R is explained and a copy of Form R, as it would be completed by this facility, follows. 

To hasten development of batteries for electric vehicles, Chiysler, Ford, and General Motors formed the U.S. Advanced Batteiy Consortium (USABC). In 1991 USABC, battery manufacturers, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched a joint research effort to identify, develop and license promising batteiy technology for electric vehicles—vehicles with the range, performance and similar costs of gasoline-powered vehicles. 

Much of this study was conducted on LaNi5-based alloys [13-20] and TiNir-based alloys [21-23], Sanyo Electric, Matsushita Battery and most other battery manufacturers have been using LaNi5-based rare earth-nickel-type alloys [24,... 

Figure 25. Nickel-metal hydride batteries manufactured by new technology.

It is characteristic for battery manufacture is that lead dioxide (Pb02) as the charged state of the active material is al-... 

Battery manufacturers are producing more rechargeable batteries each year. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association has estimated that the U.S. demand for rechargeable batteries is growing twice as fast as the demand for nonrechargeable batteries. 

Batteries may be taken to a household-hazardous-waste collection or a local battery collection program. One can also contact the battery manufacturer for other disposal options or for information on collection programs. If disposal is the only option, and the household batteries are not banned from the permitted landfill in the area, one should protect the batteries for disposal by placing them in a sturdy plastic bag in a sturdy container to help guard against leakage. Waste batteries should not be burned because of the metals that could explode. When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up in the ash.12... 

Source Rosch, W., Batteries History, Present, and Future of Battery Technology, EXTREMETECH. Available at http // www.extremetech.com/, June 2001 U.S. EPA, Battery Manufacturing, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 1981. 

Another problem encountered by manufacturers and users of NiCads batteries is the breakdown, by electrolysis, of water. This ought to be prevented otherwise the cells may explode. As with lead-acid batteries, NiCads are also prone to electrolysis-mediated breaking down of water in the electrolyte into potentially explosive hydrogen and oxygen. Battery manufacturers take great steps... 

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