Influence of Minor Elements in Waste
Lead Battery Recycling
Yusuke Sakata
Abstract Chigirishima Refinery of Toho Zinc Co., Ltd., started its lead smelting
and refining operation in 1951 and now produces 95,000 tons of electrolytic lead per
annum. At Chigirishima Refinery, the conventional smelting and refining method was
adopted, with a series of process of sintering—blast furnace—electrolytic process.
We recover some valuable by-product metals such as silver from lead concentrate
and also utilize the cupola furnace to recycle the lead electrode in the waste battery.
This paper describes the influences of minor elements in the lead electrode treatment
such as Sb, Ca, Sn, sulfuric acid, and organic substances with its measures against
them.
Keywords Waste lead battery recycling · Minor elements (Ca, Sb, Sn) · Sulfuric
acid · Organic substance
Introduction
In Chigirishima Refinery smelting process, lead concentrate and waste lead battery
are used as raw materials to produce the lead metal ingot.
Figure 1 shows the smelting flow of Chigirishima Refinery. The lead concentrate
is put into the sintering machine with small amount of miscellaneous secondary raw
materials. They are sintered and agglomerated and we obtain the massive sinter. The
sinter is reduced in the blast furnace (BF) using coke to produce crude lead. The
copper in crude lead is removed as the copper dross in the copper removal casting
process and the anode for the electrolytic process are obtained.
The waste lead batteries are treated in the cut/separation operation, and the lead
electrode in the waste lead battery is separated from plastic components. After that,
the lead electrode is processed in a cupola furnace (CF). And the molten CF crude
Y. Sakata (B)
Toho Zinc Co., Ltd, Chigirishima Refinery, 5562-1 Higashino Osakikamijima-cho, Toyota-gun,
Hiroshima-pref. 725-0231, Japan
e-mail: sakata-yusuke@toho-zinc.co.jp
© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2020
A. Siegmund et al. (eds.), PbZn 2020: 9th International Symposium
on Lead and Zinc Processing, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37070-1_49
569
Lead Battery Recycling
Yusuke Sakata
Abstract Chigirishima Refinery of Toho Zinc Co., Ltd., started its lead smelting
and refining operation in 1951 and now produces 95,000 tons of electrolytic lead per
annum. At Chigirishima Refinery, the conventional smelting and refining method was
adopted, with a series of process of sintering—blast furnace—electrolytic process.
We recover some valuable by-product metals such as silver from lead concentrate
and also utilize the cupola furnace to recycle the lead electrode in the waste battery.
This paper describes the influences of minor elements in the lead electrode treatment
such as Sb, Ca, Sn, sulfuric acid, and organic substances with its measures against
them.
Keywords Waste lead battery recycling · Minor elements (Ca, Sb, Sn) · Sulfuric
acid · Organic substance
Introduction
In Chigirishima Refinery smelting process, lead concentrate and waste lead battery
are used as raw materials to produce the lead metal ingot.
Figure 1 shows the smelting flow of Chigirishima Refinery. The lead concentrate
is put into the sintering machine with small amount of miscellaneous secondary raw
materials. They are sintered and agglomerated and we obtain the massive sinter. The
sinter is reduced in the blast furnace (BF) using coke to produce crude lead. The
copper in crude lead is removed as the copper dross in the copper removal casting
process and the anode for the electrolytic process are obtained.
The waste lead batteries are treated in the cut/separation operation, and the lead
electrode in the waste lead battery is separated from plastic components. After that,
the lead electrode is processed in a cupola furnace (CF). And the molten CF crude
Y. Sakata (B)
Toho Zinc Co., Ltd, Chigirishima Refinery, 5562-1 Higashino Osakikamijima-cho, Toyota-gun,
Hiroshima-pref. 725-0231, Japan
e-mail: sakata-yusuke@toho-zinc.co.jp
© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2020
A. Siegmund et al. (eds.), PbZn 2020: 9th International Symposium
on Lead and Zinc Processing, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37070-1_49
569