Ingeniero

Resources, Conservation and Recycling 25 (1999) 301–317

Recycling of spent lead/acid batteries: the case of Greece
A. Zabaniotou a,*, E. Kouskoumvekaki a, D. Sanopoulos b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle Uni6ersity of Thessaloniki, U. Box 455, GR-54006 Thessaloniki, Greece b Chemical Process Engineering, Research Institute, P.O Box 1517, GR-54006 Thessaloniki, Greece Received 13October 1998; accepted 16 October 1998
a

Abstract In this study, the application of modern recycling technologies in accordance with the European and Greek legislation, aiming at the recovery of lead, polypropylene and sulfuric acid from spent lead (Pb)/acid batteries, is presented. The present state of their disposal and exploitation is also depicted. The international situation is reviewed,the general trends are marked and the main technologies related to lead/acid battery treatment are reported. General recommendations are given regarding the collection of spent batteries and the installation of a recycling plant in Greece. A sensitivity analysis is carried out in order to define the most significant parameters affecting the viability of a recycling scheme. The present study provesthat a possible installation of a Pb/acid batteries recycling process unit, treating 17 000 t/year (estimated total quantity) and situated in the industrial area of the greater Athens region, seems to be economically profitable. The already existing operation of small-scale battery recycling plants, common in small countries, should be discouraged as they demonstrate a rather not environmentallyacceptable recycling operation. © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Lead; Lead/acid battery; Recycling

* Corresponding author. Tel.: eng.auth.gr.

+ 30-31-996274; fax:

+30-31-996209; e-mail: sonia@vergina.

0921-3449/99/$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 2 1 - 3 4 4 9 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 7 1 - 8

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A. Zabaniotou etal. / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 25 (1999) 301–317

1. Introduction Environmental protection and conservation of natural resources have become a subject of great importance at national and international levels. The environmental issue in industrial countries throughout the world has been, and will continue to be, how to best manage hazardous waste. The issue has manifested itself in amultiple form: how to prevent environmental deterioration caused by the generation of hazardous wastes, how to effectively clean up the problem caused by passed examples of improper disposal, how to minimize the generation of hazardous wastes, and, finally, how to recover and recycle their contained valuable material by producing secondary material and conserving resources [1]. All these are complexissues depending, for resolution, on many social, technical and legislative factors. The disposal of batteries has become an ever-increasing topic of discussion in the past few years, due to the presence of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. The present study concerns the recycling of lead/acid batteries in Greece. The main scope is to estimate the feasibility of construction of arecycling plant, in order to reclaim the lead, the polypropylene and the sulfuric acid solution from automotive batteries. The aim is not to propose a technological innovation, but to use a method applied in other industrial countries and to evaluate the impact of national parameters to the financial optimal solution. The market survey and the study of the international know-how are based onbibliographical research of a web-site database and European and American patents. Our study is focused on the starting, lighting, and ignition (SLI) batteries, for the reason that the SLI batteries represent an amount equal to the 70 – 80% of the total quantity of lead/acid batteries in Greece.

2. The lead/acid battery Since its discovery by Plante in 1859, the lead/acid battery has been undergoing...