Lead-acid batteries manufacturing processes

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... 

Lead that is incorporated into a lead acid battery is processed to manufacture the battery, and therefore must be counted toward threshold and release determinations. However, the use of the lead acid battery elsewhere in the facility does not have to be counted. Disposal of the battery after its use does not constitute a "release" thus, the battery remains an article. 

Standards of Performance for Stationary Gas Turbines Standards of Performance for Lime Manufacturing Plants Standards of Performance for Lead-Acid Battery Manufacturing Plants Standards of Performance for Metallic Mineral Processing Plants... 

Any change in materials or technological processes used for lead—acid battery manufacture was associated with certain problems in battery operation. The research efforts aimed at resolving these problems resulted in disclosing new structures, processes and properties of lead—acid batteries. This comes to demonstrate that the lead—acid hattery is a fairly complex system whose proper and effective functioning cannot he reduced to electrochemical reactions only. 

Dates and subpart identifiers in parendieses are those expected by EPA as of August 3,2000, per the EPA OAQPS TI N web site. The following categories were also delisted on die date listed in parentheses asbestos processing (10/30/95) electric arc furnace, stainless and nonstainless steel (06/04/96) chromium chemical manufacturing (06/04/96) nylon 6 production (02/12/98) wood treatment (06/04/96) lead-acid battery manufacturing (5/17/96). 

Battery manufacturers that have adopted the low sodium silicate electrolyte into their lead-acid battery production process have stated the following advantages over conventional and gel-type lead-acid batteries ... 

If sulfuric acid was manufactured, processed, or otherwise used at the battery plant in amounts that exceed the applicabie thresholds, you would be required to report releases of sulfuric acid separately. Similarly, releases of lead and lead com-... 

The manufacture of fertilizers was discussed in Chapter 14. Phosphate rock is digested with sulfuric acid to convert CaC03 into a more soluble form that contains a higher percentage of phosphorus. Sulfuric acid is used as a catalyst in alkylation reactions, petroleum refining, manufacture of detergents, paints, dyes, and fibers, and other processes. It is also used as the electrolyte in the lead-acid battery that is used in automobiles. Sulfuric acid is an enormously important chemical commodity that it would be hard to do without. 

Cost The cost of the battery is determined by the materials used in its fabrication and the manufacturing process. The manufacturer must be able to make a profit on the sale to the customer. The selling price must be in keeping with its perceived value (tradeoff of the ability of the user to pay the price and the performance of the battery). Alkaline primary Zn—MnOz is perceived to be the best value in the United States. However, in Europe and Japan the zinc chloride battery still has a significant market share. In developing countries, the lower cost Leclanche carbon—zinc is preferred. Likewise, lead acid batteries are preferred for automobile SLI over Ni—Cd with superior low-temperature performance but with a 10 times higher cost. 

Rhode Island law prohibits the disposal of Ni-Cd, mercuric-oxide, and small sealed lead-acid batteries in municipal or commercial solid waste. Manufacturers of these battery types must ensure that a system exists for the proper collection, transportation, and processing of waste batteries (this requirement pertains only to manufacturers whose batteries are used by a government agency or an industrial, communications, or medical facility). Manufacturers must accept waste batteries returned to their facilities for proper processing. 

Small nickel/cadmium and lead-acid batteries generally experience the same fate. With some exceptions, the larger rechargeable batteries, automotive batteries in particular, are returned to the vendors to a large extent for subsequent recycling by the manufacturers, or for processing by scrap metal operators for recovery of their intrinsic metal values. 

Only a minute fraction, about 0.1%, of the total lead consumed by the battery industry enters into the manufacture of small consumer type lead-acid batteries, and they are likely to be discarded as part of general household waste. The recycling of batteries in that category may be handled by processes described in Section 5.3 below. Almost all the leadf consumed by the battery industry is employed in the manufacture of large prismatic automotive and industrial type batteries. 

Discarded lead-acid batteries may be recycled by processing in conventional lead smelter operations, although the present trend is towards recycling battery wastes in dedicated facilities operated by the battery manufacturers themselves or by independent reprocessors. 

DSC and TG were used for quality control of the materials and the technological processes during battery manufacture, Matrakova and Pavlov presented the results of an investigation on lead-acid battery pastes and active materials, aimed to estimate the efficiency of the two thermal methods for the analysis and the control of the processes taking place during battery production and operation [190]. 

Application of lead—acid batteries was limited because of tbe slow process of manufacture of the electrodes and their low capacity. In the late 1870s there was an acute need of new technology for lead—acid manufacture. 

The classical technological scheme for the manufacture of flat-plate lead—acid batteries is presented in Fig. 2.52. This technological process is basically used for the production of SLI, traction and stationary batteries. The process involves the following main production stages ... 

Especially important for proper operation of the battery are the impurities contained in the metal used for leady oxide manufacture. Lead for the battery industry is derived from ores mined in different parts of the world (primary lead) or is obtained by recycling of used up batteries that have reached their end of fife (secondary lead). The recycling process is very often performed at the battery manufacturers facilities. Purity standards have been adopted for the lead to be used for leady oxide production. These standards specify different maximum allowable amounts of impurities for flooded and valve-regulated lead-acid battery applications. Table 5.2 presents typical purity specifications for lead for making leady oxide for flooded batteries. 

In diis chapter we will make an overview of the influence of additives to the pastes for positive and negative plates on the processes of plate manufacture and on the performance of lead-acid batteries. 

Ritchie claims that formation of lead—acid batteries could reach close to the theoretical electric charge, 241 Ah kg PbO, if conducted with weak current for a period of at least two weeks. However, battery manufacturers cannot afford such a long formation time. The general strive is to complete the formation process within 15—30 h, and even less. This is associated with 1.7—2.5-fold increase in electricity consumed per 1 kg of dry paste. New formation current and voltage algorithms are aimed to reduce substantially the above energy consumption. 

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