7+Recycling+of+Car+Batteries+-Stephen+McIntosh

__ Recycling of Car Batteries __ By: Stephen McIntosh

**What is a Car Battery?**

A **car battery** is a type of rechargeable battery that supplies a car with electric energy. This is usually referred to an **SLI battery** (//starting, lighting, ignition//) to power the starter motor, the lights, and the ignition system of a cars engine. A car battery can also be a traction battery used for the main power source of an electric car.

**12 V, 40 Ah Lead-acid car**, **Toyama car battery** **and** **Yokomo car battery**

**Disposal of a Car Battery**

Disposing car batteries is as easy as sending it back to the place you bought it. Any automotive shop will accept it, and they will dispose of it properly. Once the automotive shop has the used car battery, they will send it to a company that recycles used car batteries.

Here is a video of how they recycle car batteries

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**Recycling Process**

The recycling process begins by sorting the batteries into chemistries. Collection centers place lead acid, nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal-hydride and lithium-ion into designated drums or boxes.

The combustible materials are then removed such as plastics and insulation, with a gas-fired thermal oxidizer. The plants scrubber eliminates the polluting particles that are created by a burning process before releasing them into the atmosphere. This leaves the clean and naked cells with their valuable metal content.

The cells are then chopped into small pieces and heated at high tempuratures until the metal liquefies. Non-metallic substances are burned off; leaving a black slag on top that a slag arm removes. The alloys settle according to weight and are skimmed off.

Cadmium is generally light and vaporizes at high temperatures. In a process that appears like a pan of water boiling over, a fan blows the cadmium vapor into a large tube cooled with water mist, and the vapors condense to produce cadmium that is 99.95 percent pure.

The metal recovered from the car batteries are then shipped to metal recovery plants where they are used to produce stainless steel and other high-end products such as nickel, chromium and iron.


 * Toxco** (a company that recycles used/old car batteries) uses liquid nitrogen to freeze lithium-based batteries before being shredded, crushed and removed of the lithium, as well as other battery components. The lithium is dissolved in a solution to make the metal non-reactive and is sold for producing lubricating greases. Similarly, the cobalt is separated, collected and sold.

Battery recycling is energy-intensive, and it takes 6 to 10 times more energy to reclaim metals from recycled batteries as it does to produce the materials through other means, including mining.

**Dangerous and toxic effects of car batteries**

The effects of car batteries are very damaging. Without proper handling, the acid from the battery can damage your skin permanantly and have negative effects. Even one drop of the chemicals in the battery can do alot of damage to your skin. Kids in third world countries handle these car batteries everyday, taking them apart, finding the metals and wires and sell them for money, and they put themsleves in grave danger. The toxic chemicals found in the batteries will and have already done much damage to them causing them to get infected with neurological impairment due to lead poisoning found in the car battery.

Victim of acid burn

**Benefits**


 * Environmently friendly;
 * Has more than one benefit i.e production of stainless steel, iron, chromium and nickel;
 * Creates new jobs;
 * Healthier for not only our environment, but for our health also. Disposing car batteries in landfils realeases toxic chemicals into our oceans and rivers that are very dangerous and toxic;
 * Saves money;
 * You can get money for returning your used car battery to automotive shops

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 * Bibliogrophy **

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