Characterization of the products attained from a thermal treatment of a mix of zinc–carbon and alkaline batteries

ABSTRACT

This study applies a thermal separation process (TSP) to recover Fe, Mn, and Zn from hazardous spent zinc–carbon and alkaline batteries. In the TSP, the batteries were heated together with a reducing additive and the metals in batteries, according to their boiling points and densities, were found to move into three major output materials: slag, ingot (mainly Fe and Mn), and particulate (particularly Zn). The slag well encapsulated the heavy metals of interest and can be recycled for road pavement or building materials. The ingot had high levels of Fe (522,000 mg/kg) and Mn (253,000 mg/kg) and can serve as an additive for stainless steel-making processes. The particulate phase had a Zn level of 694,000 mg/kg which is high enough to be directly sold for refinement. Overall, the TSP effectively recovered valuable metals from the hazardous batteries.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Metal distribution
• crystalline phase
• ingot
• slag
• particulate phase

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Yi-Ming Kuo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5711-9884

Kuo-Lin Huang http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4069-8234

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support by the Ministry of Science and Technology [grant number NSC 101-2628-E-273-001-MY3].