THE RECYCLING OF LEAD-ACID-BATTERIES - PRODUCTION OF LEAD AND POLYPROPYLENE

Recycling of lead-acid batteries is a process of great interest in the lead industry. Nowadays, about 47% of the total world lead production results from lead secondary smelting. The main raw material entering this process is the used lead-acid battery, whether being a starter, a traction or a standby battery. Roughly, about 85% of used batteries are recycled. The lead acid battery is a complex industrial product, constituted by several different materials. The first step of the recycling process is an effective separation of these battery components, so as to recover further valuable products. Throughout the separation process, crushing, sieving and flotation techniques are used. Lead recycling industry has also become a net producer of recycled plastic: polypropylene, recyclable material whose consumption as battery boxes is increasing. The Metaleurop group, already premier lead producer in EEC, has become through its subsidiary division C2P (Cookson Penarroya Plastics) the first European producer of recycled polypropylene from lead-acid battery boxes. The second step of the process is to melt and reduce lead compounds into metal, and then to refine this metal for new applications, like batteries. Contrary to other recycled products, lead quality is not lowered through secondary smelting, and is of the same high grade as lead from primary smelting.