A mechanical pre-treatment process for the valorization of useful fractions from spent batteries

In this paper the authors propose a full-scale plant aimed to pre-treat spent batteries in order to obtain cleaned useful fractions (magnetic and non-magnetic metals, paper, plastic, a fine-sized material made of a metal–carbon mixture). The treating process was designed after having analyzed and tested a representative sample coming from the whole amount of spent batteries collected in 1 month by the public service in and around Turin. The analyses performed on the sample allowed the authors to determine its in-percentage composition in term of type of batteries: 60–70% b.w. (by weight) alkaline, 25–30% b.w. Zn–C and 5–10% b.w. other types. For each type, the composition in term of size (AAA or LR03; AA or LR6; C or LR14; D or LR20; 9V or 6F22A; 4.5V or 3R12A) has also been determined. The treatment for the recovery of secondary raw materials foresees the following phases:-separation of useful types/sizes of exhaust batteries to undergo further treatments by means of a first sieving process;-liberation of the single components taking advantage of a crushing operation;-separation of a fine-sized material (to subject to pyro or hydro metallurgic recovery) from a coarse-sized material (to send to secondary smelt foundries and incinerators) by means of a second sieving phase. On the basis of the results obtained from the crushing/sieving laboratory tests and the chemical characterization, a full-scale plant able to treat about 76,000t/y of spent batteries has been designed. The cost analysis performed on the proposed treatment plant has given back a unit pre-treatment cost equal to 3€ per ton of processed spent batteries.