This study presents a clean process for recycling spent lead-acid battery paste. The lead in paste was recovered via hydrometallurgical leaching and electrowinning in chloride solution.
Can lead paste be recycled from spent lead acid battery under vacuum?
Conclusions A research investigation for recycling lead from lead paste in the spent lead acid battery under vacuum has been developed in this work.
How are lead-acid batteries separated?
Usually, spent lead-acid batteries are separated in lead recycling plants by dismantling and sorting into four fractions: lead paste, metallic fragments, waste acid, and plastic case (Worrell and Reuter, 2014; Zhang et al., 2019). The processing of lead paste is relatively complex because it contains refractory lead sulphate.
How is lead paste recovered?
Lead paste was recovered via leaching and electrowinning in chloride solution. The leaching of lead was over 99% and the current efficiency was 96.3%. The energy consumption of the electrowinning was only 85.9 kWh/t Pb. The spent electrolyte was recyclable and the chlorine evolution was avoided.
There are four main components in spent lead acid battery: polymeric containers, lead alloy grids, waste acids and pastes. Among them, the pastes mainly comprise lead oxide (∼9%), lead dioxide (∼28%), lead sulfate (∼60%) and a small amount of lead (∼3%) (Zhu et al., 2012a).
What is a dry spent lead paste sample?
The dry spent lead paste sample was provided by a spent lead-acid battery recycling plant located in Hubei Province, China. The sample was ground to a particle size below 0.15 mm and analysed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES).
What is the role of a lead-acid battery in wastewater treatment?
Additionally, the treatment of wastewater containing ammonia and nitrogen may limit the application range of these alkaline leaching processes. Lead-acid batteries dominate lead usage, accounting for about 80%. As secondary lead resources grow, recycling spent lead paste becomes crucial.