Spent batteries

In a life cycle impact analysis of battery systems, regardless of composition, performance and whether or not they are rechargeable, it is clearly the final disposal of the battery which determines its major environmental and human health impact. The 

land filling of incinerator ash from batteries may not be a significant problem and releases through this waste disposal option may not be as great as feared by some. 

The two most likely options for the disposal of spent batteries today are land filling and recycling. Land filling is currently the most widely used option, as it is the most widely used disposal option for all municipal solid wastes in OECD nations. A recent report (OECD 1998) indicated that an average of 63% of the municipal solid waste in OECD 

Even when considered on a long term basis, there is considerable doubt that the presence of land filled battery metals such as lead, zinc, and cadmium would have the catastrophic environmental effects which some have predicted. Studies on 2000-year old Roman artifacts in the United Kingdom (Thornton 1995) have shown that zinc, lead and cadmium diffuse only very short distances in soils, depending on soil type, soil pH and other site-specific factors, even after burial for periods up to 1900 years. Another study in Japan (Oda 1990) examined nickel-cadmium batteries buried in Japanese soils to detect any diffusion of nickel or cadmium from the battery. None has been detected after almost 20 years exposure. Further, it is unclear given the chemical complexation behavior of the metallie ions of many battery metals exactly how they would behave even if metallic ions were released. Some studies have suggested, for example, that both lead and cadmium exhibit a marked tendency to complex in sediments and be unavailable for plant or animal uptake. In addition, plant and animal uptake of metals such as zinc, lead and cadmium has been found to depend very much on the presence of other elements such as iron and on dissolved organic matter (Cook and Morrow 1995). Until these behavior are better understood, it is unjustified to equate the mere presence of a hazardous material in a battery with the true risk associated with that battery. Unfortunately, this is exactly the method which has been too often adopted in comparison of battery systems, so that the true risks remain largely obscured. 

These caveats notwithstanding, there is still little argument that the most preferred option for the disposal of spent batteries is obviously collection and recycling. Not only does this option greatly reduce any risk which may exist, but it conserves valuable 

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Fig. 17. Schematic flow sheet for a typical spent battery breaking operation.

The cathode material is stainless steel. The lead produced by this method analyzes 99.99 + %. The overall power consumption is less than 1 kWh/kg of lead, so that the electrolytic process for treating spent batteries has much less of an environmental impact than the conventional pyrometaUurgical process. 

The State of New Jersey has passed a law restricting the sale and disposal of batteries (qv) containing mercury, requiring manufacturers to reduce the mercury content of each battery to 1 ppm by weight by 1995, and to estabhsh a collection program for spent batteries (14). Another New Jersey law bans the sale of products having cadmium, mercury, or other toxic materials in the packaging (14) (see Cadmiumand cadmium alloys Cadmium compounds Mercury compounds). 

The experimental techniques described above of charge—discharge and impedance are nondestructive. Tear-down analysis or disassembly of spent cells and an examination of the various components using experimental techniques such as Raman microscopy, atomic force microscopy, NMR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, XAS, and the like can be carried out on materials-spent battery electrodes to better understand the phenomena that lead to degradation during use. These techniques provide diagnostic techniques that identify materials properties and materials interactions that limit lifetime, performance, and thermal stabiity. The accelerated rate calorimeter finds use in identifying safety-related situations that lead to thermal runaway and destruction of the battery. 

Finally, there are many metal-containing solid wastes that may undergo leaching if disposed to land spent catalysts (cobalt, nickel, vanadium) spent batteries (nickel, cadmium, lithium, lead) combustion ashes etc. 

At the present time, a large number of spent batteries are disposed of directly into the urban waste stream without proper controls. In addition to the most common systems such as zinc-carbon, alkaline manganese and nickel-cadmium, these now include, at an increasing rate, nickel-metal hydride and lithium cells. Such disposal is of serious concern because of the possible effects of battery components on the environment. Consequently, most countries are now evolving policies for collection and recycling. The majority of lead-acid batteries are recycled, but the number of recycling plants in operation worldwide for other battery systems is still very small due to the unfavourable economic balance of such operations (see Table A3.1). Some of the procedures for the disposal and recycling of battery materials are now briefly described. 

Table A3.1 Status of present technology for recycling spent batteries...

This chapter presents a brief outline of the recovery and processing of spent batteries, the basic smelting and refining principles of lead, and some of the hurdles that the secondary sector will face in meeting the challenge of building a better battery. 

Italy. The consortium, COBAT, was created in 1988 with the responsibility for collection and marketing of used batteries, the re-treatment of collected batteries if market economics are not effective, and the research and development for cleaner recycling of spent batteries. The consortium comprises secondary lead smelters, battery manufacturers, scrap merchants, and battery retailers. The customer pays a fee on each battery, and this is used to fund COBAT. 

Germany. The German government has attempted a comprehensive approach to cover all types of batteries. An obligation is placed on the consumer to return spent batteries to the retailer or scrap merchant. A levy of 10 is placed on all batteries purchased without the return of a similar spent battery, and there is an obligation on retailers to accept all batteries returned by consumers. The retailer/ merchant is also required to report annual statistics on the sales/returns balance to the authorities. 

Lead-acid storage batteries represent a major source of metal that is recovered. In 2001, 78% of refined Pb manufactured in the US originated from recycled metal, much of it (wl Mt) coming from spent batteries from vehicle and industrial sources. 

Total life cycle analyses may be utilized to establish the relative environmental and human health impacts of battery systems over their entire lifetime, from the production of the raw materials to the ultimate disposal of the spent battery. The three most important factors determining the total life cycle impact appear to be battery composition, battery performance, and the degree to which spent batteries are recycled after their useful lifetime. This assessment examines both rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries, and includes lead acid, nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion, carbon zinc and alkaline manganese batteries. 

Safety issues have also become more important in recent years as more active battery chemistries have been developed. In particular, the presence of corrosive electrolytes and highly ignitable or explosive battery materials under certain conditions has become an issue which the battery industry must address. At present, it appears as if improvement in the recycling rates of spent batteries will produce the most substantial decreases in the environmental and human health impacts of battery systems. 

Finally, the conversion of the primary metal into the product and the form which are actually utilized in the battery system should be considered. For example, the electrode materials in lead acid batteries are normally cast lead or lead-alloy grids. The materials utilized in NiCd batteries are cadmium oxide and high surface area nickel foams or meshes. Technically, all of these factors should be considered to produce a detailed life cycle analysis. However, again, these differences are generally quite small compared to the principal variables - composition, performance and spent battery disposal option. 

Thus, the emissions associated with the manufacture of battery systems, like those associated with the production of the primary raw materials, are generally quite low, probably less than 1% of the total potential emissions if the spent battery were discarded entirely into the environment after use. While most of the data presented above are relevant mainly to nickel-cadmium batteries, which have been heavily studied because of regulatory and environmental controversy, the same general conclusions apply to other battery systems in general with some variations. Primary raw material production and battery manufacturing, in general, contribute only a small fraction of the environmental or human health impact that might be encountered in unconsidered waste disposal. 

If portable rechargeable batteries that have been sold with EEE for the last ten to fifteen years are not introduced in MSW streams, their presence in other streams needs to be identified and evaluated quantitatively. The work carried out by two national collection programs for spent batteries and by CollectNiCad is presented in this chapter. (CollectNiCad is an industry initiated and financed program with a commitment to collect 5,000 tonnes of Ni-Cd batteries in 4 years [1999-2003]). It demonstrates the willingness of the portable rechargeable battery industry to clearly identify the presence of its products in the various market positions and waste streams (Figure 1). A consumer survey made on the hoarding effect in France and the evaluation of quantities of batteries in MSW in France and the Netherlands will be illustrated. 

Complementary information on the practice of landfill of spent batteries and the management of industrial waste streams will be supplied. 

It is interesting to note that even in a country without tradition for the collection of spent batteries (all types) and of waste electrical and electronic equipment, the collection mode represents one of the three major ways for discarding used equipment. (N.B. In France the official SCRELEC campaign did only start one year before the hoarding study was performed). When this survey was performed, the existence of this national collection program had not yet reached a high level of knowledge by the consumer. 

One half of the total quantity available for collection has been taken back to a collection point and the second half is discarded in MSW streams. Consequently, discarding in MSW is not the preferred method of elimination of spent batteries and equipment. 

The most appropriate concept to evaluate the success of spent batteries collection campaigns or programs is the collection efficiency that is based on measured data like the quantity of batteries present in waste (municipal solid and other industrial waste) and the quantity collected on a national basis from the various collection sources (national, private, etc). 

The most appropriate concept to evaluate the success of spent battery collection campaigns or programs is the collection efficiency that is based on measured data the... 

The difficulty faced by any collection program (national or private) is to evaluate the exact quantity of spent batteries available for collection as it is the fraction that can be collected. Indeed, batteries kept at home or in shops that are not available for collection are not a threat for the environment as long as they remain under the property and control of their owner. 

Several sites may have higher concentration of cadmium emissions. These are industrial waste landfills and the origin of their cadmium emissions is not proven to be from spent batteries. 

For industrial Ni-Cd batteries, the industry has established a one for one collection strategy that allows the take back of spent batteries at the time of sales as well as independently of sales. This principle allows the industry to pursue a collection target of more than 90% of the quantity of industrial Ni-Cd batteries introduced annually into the market (based on an annual average over the last ten years). The collected volumes obtained during the last six years are presented in Figure 25. 

Table 4. Inventory of the Collection Programs for Spent Batteries in the EU Member States... 

Quantilics of Spent Batteries Processed for Recycling Prom EU Countries... 

For portable rechargeable batteries that are incorporated in pieces of equipment, the consumer is not willing to separate the rechargeable battery from the equipment. If this equipment has a potential life of more than ten years on the market, the amount of spent batteries collected will be very low. 

To illustrate the impact of the collection of spent batteries of all types on the... 

Beyond the administrative and financial responsibility, SCRELEC acts as a control agency for the various operations related to the collection ind recycling of spent batteries and also for the de-manufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment and the appropriate management of each type of component in recycling, re-use and/or discarding operations. 

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