Selective Lead-Acid Battery Segmentation for Efficient Recycling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lead-acid battery recycling methods fail to selectively separate and process different components of spent lead-acid batteries efficiently, leading to increased costs and complexity, and struggle with processing types like AGM batteries due to silica content damage in pyrometallurgical processing.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that uses imaging to determine a break point in spent lead-acid batteries to separate top lead from the remainder, allowing for individual processing of these components, including remelting the top lead and pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical recovery of the remainder, which avoids unnecessary purification and handles AGM batteries by separating components to prevent silica exposure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If the entire spent lead-acid battery is ground into particulates and pyrometallurgically processed, then lead content can be recovered for reuse, but the process fails to take advantage of material arrangement introducing additional cost and complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The spent lead-acid battery is divided into distinct segments: top lead (terminal posts, straps, connectors) and bottom lead (grids, plates, paste) through selective breaking at identified break points. This segmentation allows each portion to be processed separately through appropriate methods (remelting for top lead, pyrometallurgy for bottom lead), reducing overall processing complexity while maintaining lead recovery efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The top lead components are extracted and separated from the bottom lead components before processing. This extraction allows the top lead to undergo simpler remelting processing while the bottom lead undergoes pyrometallurgical processing, eliminating the need to process the entire battery through the more complex pyrometallurgical route.
2Loss of substance
If AGM batteries are processed through pyrometallurgical processing, then lead can be recovered, but silica content damages or degrades furnaces
Solution Approach 1:
The top lead components containing silica from AGM batteries are extracted and separated from the bottom lead components before processing. This extraction removes the harmful silica from the pyrometallurgical processing stream, preventing furnace damage while allowing lead recovery from both portions through their respective processing methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery is segmented into top and bottom portions, with the top portion (containing silica) directed to remelting and the bottom portion directed to pyrometallurgy. This segmentation isolates the harmful silica from the pyrometallurgical process, protecting furnaces from damage.
3Productivity
If selective separation and separate processing is implemented, then efficiency improves and costs reduce, but additional equipment and imaging systems are required
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system (optical or X-ray) replaces manual inspection and mechanical sorting methods to identify break points and material locations. This substitution enables automated, precise identification of separation points without requiring complex mechanical sorting equipment, improving efficiency while controlling system complexity.
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
This approach enables efficient recovery and reuse of lead, polymer, and sulfuric acid content, reducing costs and time by avoiding extensive purification and allowing specialized processing of challenging battery types, such as AGM batteries, while maintaining alloying metals in the top lead for new battery production.
Implementation Method 1
an imaging system configured to perform imaging of a spent lead-acid battery and perform image analysis to determine a break point
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for recycling lead-acid batteries, and more specifically, relates to systems and methods for selectively separating and separately processing portions of lead-acid batteries to improve efficiency and reduce costs. A lead-acid battery processing system includes an imaging system configured to perform imaging of a lead-acid battery and perform image analysis to determine a break point that divides top lead from a remainder of the lead content of the lead-acid battery. The system also includes a battery breaking device configured to break the lead-acid battery at the determined break point and separate the lead-acid battery into a first portion, which includes the top lead, from a second portion, which includes the remainder of the lead content, for separate processing of the first and second portions of the lead-acid battery.