Consumer batteries

World production of lead—acid batteries in 1988, excluding the Eastern European central economy countries, has been estimated at 9.45 biUion. The automotive market was 6743 million or 211.6 million units. Industrial battery sales were 2082 million and consumer battery sales were 454 million. Motorcycle batteries accounted for an additional 170 million or 25 million units. Most batteries are produced in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, but smaller numbers are produced worldwide. The breakdown in sales for the three production areas foUows. Automotive battery sales were 2304 million in the United States, 1805 in Western Europe, and 945 million in Japan. Industrial battery sales were 525 million in the United States, 993 million in Western Europe, and 266 million in Japan. Consumer battery sales were 104 million in the United States, 226 million in Japan, and 82 million in Western Europe. More than half of all motorcycle batteries are produced in Japan and Taiwan (1). 

Tabic 3. World lead-acid stationary and consumer battery production 1997 (million Wh, estimate)... 

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) requires that consumer batteries pass a number of safety tests [3]. UL requires that a battery withstand a short circuit without fire or explosion. A positive temperature coefficient (PTC) device [4] is used for external short-circuit protection. The resistance of a PTC placed in series with the cell increases by orders of magnitude at high currents and resulting high temperatures. However, in the case of an internal short, e.g., if the positive tab comes lose and contacts the interior of the negative metal can, the separator could act as a fuse. That is, the impedance of the separator increases by two to three orders of magnitude due to an increase in cell temperature. 

Debatox A rotary kiln system for recycling consumer battery materials developed by Sulzer Chemtech. The system first shreds the batteries and then incinerates them. Carbon, plastics, and paper are burnt. Dioxins are destroyed in an afterburner, and mercury is condensed in a scrubber. The residual solids, containing zinc, manganese, and iron, can be recycled by standard smelters. 

The major disadvantage to an active matrix screen is that it requires large amounts of power to operate all the transistors. Even with the backlight turned off, the screen can still consume battery power at an alarming rate. Most laptops with active matrix screens can t operate on a battery for more than two hours. 

The term general purpose consumer battery can be used to describe any portable battery system. This includes both single cells, such as those used in torches, radios or other similar devices and battery packs used within mobile communication and cordless tools for example. The term covers both rechargeable chemistries, as well as the more abundant single use chemistries. 

The most common primary batteries in use today are the zinc-carbon and the alkaline-manganese battery systems. Together, they constitute in excess of 90% by weight of the total consumer battery market in Europe. Consequently, particularly within the realm of battery recycling, the term primary battery is often used to describe just these two systems. 

All the standard size consumer batteries to be marked with a crossed out dustbin symbol on the battery label itself This will include D, C, AA, AAA and 9V size batteries. 

One example of such an operation is the Sortbat sorting facility, operated by AVR Holding, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The plant is capable of processing 3,000 tonne per shift per year of post consumer batteries at an accuracy exceeding 99% for critical battery streams. 

With the elimination of mercury from all primary consumer batteries, a less complex recycling route became available for them. Today alkaline and zinc carbon batteries can be successfully recycled within the existing metals industry. A number of options are available within this sector which can be successfully demonstrated to recycle batteries. 

Today DK Recycling und Roheisen GmbH recycle mercury free manufacturing scrap from primary battery manufacturing facilities and are undergoing further trials to extend this service to collected post consumer batteries. 

Secondary batteries are rechargeable batteries that can be re-used many times, several hundred times for consumer batteries and several thousand times for ecially designed secondary batteries. 

The typical life cycles of consumer batteries depend to some extent on their applications. Primary batteries employed in portable devices are most often discarded casually with domestic trash and end up in landfills. Exceptions exist in communities where deliberate efforts are made to collect spent batteries for recycling or proper disposal and in communities where battery vendors participate in incentive programs to return spent batteries to the manufacturers or collect them for recycling or proper disposal. The magnitude of such programs is still... 

Siite limited and has contributed little to alleviate the environmental problems at may be created by the disposal of spent, primary consumer batteries. 

Individual countries within the European Community handle the battery waste problem differently. For example, in Switzerland all used consumer batteries are considered hazardous waste and must be collected separately from ordinary household waste. Batteries must be recycled or stored in warehouses, not landfilled. A tax is collected on all new battery purchases to help defray the cost of recycling. In Italy, spent dry batteries are considered as hazardous waste and must be collected separately. In Sweden (10), the environmental issues relatii to waste batteries are addressed in the Control of Chemicals Bill and in the Decree on Environmentally Hazardous Batteries. All used batteries containing cadmium or mercury are collected separately under government control. The cadmium is then recycled. Regulations are in place for the manufacture of nickel/cadmium cells, limiting the exposure of workers and the emission of toxic materials. 

Fleet operators and large scale industrial users of batteries are in a better position than the general consumer communities to collect discarded batteries. Because of the organizational structure of the former group, the establishment of collection systems within their existing organizations is relatively easy. The more difficult problem lies in the domain of domestic users, particularly the problem of the retrieval of batteries other than lead-acid batteries. The retrieval of spent automotive lead-acid batteries from domestic users, by far the most significant fraction of lead acid batteries, is relatively efficient because these batteries are sold on a trade-in basis in most cases. However, most consumer batteries are not sold in this manner. 

The operational incentives for recycling of most consumer batteries are regulatory rather than economic. Wallis and Wolslw (20) cite estimates of US 0.80/lb for the recycling cost of batteries, exclusive of any credits for recovered materials, and US 0.l0/lb for their disposal in hazardous waste landfills. Clearly the economics favor disposal, not recycling. The recycling of batteries will be driven, therefore, primarily by regulatory pressures. 

We are indebted to Dr. S. P. Wolsky for permission to quote freely from his Proceedings of the "International Seminars on Battery Waste Management and to Dr. Brian Barnett for providing information on consumer battery recyclers. 

Recycling efforts have been implemented for rectangular lead-acid, nickel cadmium automotive and industrial batteries. Several efforts are directed at the recycling of cyclindrical consumer batteries. Small format battery collection boxes have been set up in several municipalities in an attempt to prevent batteries containing hazardous materials from entering garbage incinerators, composters and landfills. 

The Underwriters Laboratories (UL) requires that consumer batteries pass a number of safety tests (UL 1642, and UL-2054 There are similar recommendations from United Nations for transport of dangerous goods, and from International Electrotechnical Commission (lEC), and Japan Battery Association. 

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