Primary batteries mercury

Primary batteries, mercury-zinc, silver-zinc, lithium solid electrolyte types. 

Duracell Deutschland Technical Division, D-5020 Frechen, Hermann-Seger-Strasse 13 Primary batteries, mercury—zinc, silver—zinc, lithium solid electrolyte types. 

Duracell UK Technical Division Duracell House Gatwick Road, Crawley RHIO 2PA Primary batteries, mercury-zinc, silver-zinc, lithium solid electrolyte types, nickel-cadmium, lithium-sulphur dioxide, lithium-manganese dioxide, zinc-air. See also Duracell (US)... 

Another important primary battery is the mercury cell. It usually comes in very small sizes and is used in hearing aids, watches, cameras, and some calculators. The anode of this cell is a zinc-mercury amalgam the reacting species is zinc. The cathode is a plate made up of mercury(II) oxide, HgO. The electrolyte is a paste containing HgO and sodium or potassium hydroxide. The electrode reactions are... 

Mercury(II) sulfate is an electrolyte for primary batteries. Other apphca-tions are in extraction of gold and silver from roasted pyrites as a catalyst in organic reactions such as conversion of acetylene to acetaldehyde and as a reagent for wine coloring. 

The zinc-carhon, alkaline-zinc, and mercury cells are classified as primary batteries. Primary batteries produce electric energy by means of redox reactions that are not easily reversed. 

A primary battery cannot be recharged, so it is discarded when the components have reached their equilibrium concentrations, that is, when the cell is dead. We ll discuss the alkaline battery and the mercury and silver button batteries. 

Today only background levels of mercury remain within primary batteries. This is the naturally occurring mercury associated with the zinc components. Typically this is less than 2 parts per million and always less than 5 parts per million. 

It is obvious that only those battery recycling facilities which offer economical processing will remain viable in the long-term within a competitive market. Any primary battery recycling facility which concentrates on mercury removal at high cost has a very limited lifespan. 

As previously discussed, the major battery manufacturers in Europe, Japan and the United States had all successfully eliminated mercury from primary batteries by 1993. Consequently the mercury burden on the environment from waste primary batteries has been significantly reduced and continues to reduce year on year. The question remained, at what point in the future would all batteries which were sold before 1993 have been disposed of by the consumer If this date can be ascertained, then all primary recycling operations after that date need only concentrate on resource conservation and not toxic elimination. 

The battery industry developed a statistical method for determining the concentration of mercury in the waste stream at any point in time, and used this to predict the future date by which all of the mercury within primary batteries will have passed through the waste stream. This method, which uses date code analysis was developed over a period of many years through stockpile analyses in Germany, Sweden, Belgium and The Netherlands. It is employed annually in Europe to forecast the decline of residual... 

In order to ensure that the mercury concentration of primary batteries will indeed fall to background, one must ensure that the european market is closed to the importation of batteries containing levels above background. The European Battery Directive, 91/157/EEC, still allowed for batteries containing up to 250 parts per million of mercury to be sold. The battery industry petitioned the European Parliament to close this loophole. In response, they introduced a technical adaptation, 98/101/EEC, which prevented the addition of any mercury in primary general purpose batteries sold in Europe. 

The battery industry in Europe has also added additional insurance to ensure that primary batteries manufactured with no added mercury can indeed be recycled without the need to allow for high cost mercury capture and treatment facilities. This has been done by introducing an invisible ink, only visible under ultra violet light, into the labels of all alkaline cylindrical batteries sold in Europe. This allows rapid and extremely accurate sorting of mercury free batteries out from the remainder. 

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. 

The Waelz kiln operation is subjected to the same stringent environmental standards as the EAF steelmaking process. Trials have been undertaken in Europe and the USA to determine whether these same standards are met when operating with mercury free primary batteries as part of the feed. 

This battery type has been phased out in most applications because of the problems of disposal. The product of the reaction is liquid mercury which has a tendency to pool and can create a toxic hazard in landfills. Most countries have banned the use of mercury batteries in consumer applications for this reason. Other battery systems such as lithium primary batteries, zinc air, and alkaline batteries have to a large extent replaced mercury batteries. 

Zinc/Mercury oxide 1.35 400 520 Primary battery in button cell design... 

The addition of mercury has been completely and successfully eliminated from non-rechargeable portable batteries (primary batteries). The major battery suppliers in Europe (they cover approximately 95% of the market) have been offering them mercury-free since 1994. The financial expenditure for the development and the operating costs for mercury-free production were and still are considerable. 

Development of technologies for the avoidance of mercury in these primary batteries. 

Strict environmental regulations continue to affect battery deployment and its disposal. These regulations force the battery industry to consider secondary batteries, which can be used multiple times. Use of secondary batteries will not only eliminate disposal problems but also will yield maximum economy. The author will not describe low-power mercury-based primary batteries, because mercury is considered very harmful to general health and these batteries have been banned. 

During this period, the zinc/alkaline manganese dioxide batery began to replace the zinc-carbon or Leclanche battery as the leading primary battery, capturing the major share of the US market. Environmental concerns led to the elimination of mercury in most batteries without any impairment of performance, but also led to the phasing out of those batteries. 

Within each Part, chapters are included on all available types of primary batteries, secondary batteries and batteries available in primary and secondary versions. The primary batteries include carbon-zinc, carbon-zinc chloride, mercury-zinc and other mercury types, manganese dioxide-magnesium perchlorate, magnesium organic, lithium types (sulphur dioxide, thionyl chloride, vanadium pentoxide, iodine and numerous other lithium types), thermally activated and seawater batteries. Batteries available in primary and secondary Corms include alkaline manganese, silver-zinc, silver-cadmium, zinc-air and cadmium-air. The secondary batteries discussed include lead-acid, the nickel types (cadmium, iron, zinc, hydrogen), zinc-chlorine, sodium-sulphur and other fast ion types. 

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