Review of Waste Water Treatment
Technologies Used in Lead Recycling
James Dahlstrom, Joseph Grogan and Benjamin Rodrigue
Abstract Lead is one of the most highly recycled and regulated metals. Environmental controls around the processing of lead are extremely important to the continued success of lead as a means of energy storage in the circular economy. This
paper describes the different chemistries and technologies used to control waste
water emissions from secondary lead facilities. Commonly used technologies include
iron co-precipitation, sulfide precipitation, and gypsum precipitation. Alternative
technologies with future potential are also discussed.
Keywords ZVI · Cementation · Waste water · Selenium
Background
Secondary lead facilities in North America mainly produce lead alloys by recycling
end of life lead bearing materials, primarily lead acid batteries. Throughout the lifecycle, these batteries undergo thousands of charge–discharge cycles that cause degradation of the electrically active components. As a result, lead and the alloying elements leach into the battery electrolytes, typically sulfuric acid. In battery recycling
facilities, the electrolytes, along with process water introduced to the classification
system, are collected and sent to an onsite water treatment process before discharging to a municipal water treatment center. Due to different processes upstream of the
water treatment site, each recycler will have varying concentrations of lead, antimony,
arsenic, selenium, and cadmium that must be removed from their waste water in order
to meet compliance limits. All but cadmium are found in typical lead acid batteries.
Lead-Cadmium alloys are not common in batteries, and instead cadmium enters the
process when undesirable battery chemistries such a nickel-cadmium (NiCd) are comingled with the lead bearing materials and mistakenly enter the process in small
quantities. The following metallic species are generally present in the treatable waste
water circuit:
J. Dahlstrom · J. Grogan (B) · B. Rodrigue
Gopher Resource, 685 Yankee Doodle Rd., Eagan, MN, USA
e-mail: joe.grogan@gopherresource.com
© 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_60
695
Technologies Used in Lead Recycling
James Dahlstrom, Joseph Grogan and Benjamin Rodrigue
Abstract Lead is one of the most highly recycled and regulated metals. Environmental controls around the processing of lead are extremely important to the continued success of lead as a means of energy storage in the circular economy. This
paper describes the different chemistries and technologies used to control waste
water emissions from secondary lead facilities. Commonly used technologies include
iron co-precipitation, sulfide precipitation, and gypsum precipitation. Alternative
technologies with future potential are also discussed.
Keywords ZVI · Cementation · Waste water · Selenium
Background
Secondary lead facilities in North America mainly produce lead alloys by recycling
end of life lead bearing materials, primarily lead acid batteries. Throughout the lifecycle, these batteries undergo thousands of charge–discharge cycles that cause degradation of the electrically active components. As a result, lead and the alloying elements leach into the battery electrolytes, typically sulfuric acid. In battery recycling
facilities, the electrolytes, along with process water introduced to the classification
system, are collected and sent to an onsite water treatment process before discharging to a municipal water treatment center. Due to different processes upstream of the
water treatment site, each recycler will have varying concentrations of lead, antimony,
arsenic, selenium, and cadmium that must be removed from their waste water in order
to meet compliance limits. All but cadmium are found in typical lead acid batteries.
Lead-Cadmium alloys are not common in batteries, and instead cadmium enters the
process when undesirable battery chemistries such a nickel-cadmium (NiCd) are comingled with the lead bearing materials and mistakenly enter the process in small
quantities. The following metallic species are generally present in the treatable waste
water circuit:
J. Dahlstrom · J. Grogan (B) · B. Rodrigue
Gopher Resource, 685 Yankee Doodle Rd., Eagan, MN, USA
e-mail: joe.grogan@gopherresource.com
© 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_60
695