Waste Battery Dust Agglomeration and Compression for Metal Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current waste battery recycling methods, particularly dry smelting, generate fine dust that contaminates the air and poses health and environmental risks due to the diffusion of harmful components during processing.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus is designed to minimize dust diffusion by using a conveying unit, pulverizer, heater, collector, filter, mixer, and compressor to process waste batteries, where the dust is collected, mixed with additives, and compressed into blocks, reducing environmental impact and improving recovery efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If dry smelting is used to recover metal alloys from waste batteries, then valuable metals such as cobalt, copper and nickel can be recovered, but fine dust containing harmful components is generated and diffuses into the air causing environmental pollution and health risks
Solution Approach 1:
The pulverizer divides waste batteries into smaller particles, enabling efficient metal recovery while containing the dust within the sealed system. The segmentation of the processing steps (pulverization, heating, filtering) allows each stage to be optimized for both recovery and dust control.
Solution Approach 2:
The filter part acts as an intermediary between the dust-generating processes (pulverizer, heater) and the external environment. It captures and retains fine dust particles while allowing processed materials to pass through, effectively mediating the conflict between metal recovery and dust emission.
2Productivity
If dust is collected and processed through mixing and compression, then dust agglomeration is enhanced and recovery efficiency is improved, but additional processing steps and equipment complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mixer combines dust particles with binding agents to form agglomerates, merging multiple dust particles into larger units. The compressor then combines these agglomerates into dense blocks. This merging approach enhances recovery efficiency by making dust easier to handle and transport while the integrated design minimizes additional complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression process changes the physical parameters of the dust material by applying high pressure, transforming loose dust into dense, stackable blocks. This parameter change (from low-density dust to high-density blocks) significantly improves recovery efficiency and facilitates easier handling without requiring overly complex equipment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus effectively prevents dust scattering, enhances cohesive forces, facilitates easier dust agglomeration and recovery, and simplifies the recycling process by forming compressible blocks that can be stacked and sold, addressing the low yield and environmental pollution issues associated with traditional methods.
Implementation Method 1
a heater disposed on a downstream side of the pulverizer to heat dust formed by the pulverizer
Implementation Method 2
a compressor compressing a mixture mixed in the mixer
Implementation Method 3
a filter part filtering a pulverized material of the collector
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for processing a waste battery is proposed. The apparatus includes a conveying unit having a conveying belt rotated by a plurality of rotating shafts which are rotated to convey the supplied waste battery in one direction, a pulverizer disposed on a position along a travelling direction of the conveying unit to pulverize the waste battery, a heater disposed on a downstream side of the pulverizer to heat dust formed by the pulverizer, a collector collecting the dust which passes through the pulverizer and the heater, a filter part filtering a pulverized material of the collector, a mixer supplying an additive to the dust discharged from a discharge pipe of the filter part, and a compressor compressing a mixture mixed in the mixer.