battery recycling

Informal lead-acid battery recycling and manufacturing remains a contributory factor for children’s elevated blood lead levels in emerging countries around the world.

The findings were published by Lancet Planet Health following an investigation into the leading sources of lead exposure to people living in 49 developing countries. 

An estimated 632 million children in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC) are estimated to have a blood lead level exceeding 5 μg/dL; and 413 million were estimated to exceed the previous reference value of 10 μg/dL.

Last October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its blood lead reference value (BLRV) from 5 µg/dL to 3.5 µg/dL in response to the Lead Exposure Prevention and Advisory Committee (LEPAC) recommendation made on May 14, 2021. 

The Lancet report stated: “Given the toxicity of lead, even at low amounts of exposure, urgent attention is required to control exposures and to expand population-based sampling in countries with no or scant data. 

“Major sources of lead exposure were informal lead acid battery recycling and manufacture, metal mining and processing, electronic waste, and the use of lead as a food adulterant, primarily in spices.”

In Mexico, lead-based ceramic glazes were a significant source of exposure, stated the report.

Lead exposure in LMICs

According to Lancet, reports have suggested that lead exposure remains substantial or is increasing in some LMICs but few studies have attempted to systematically assess blood lead levels over the full range. 

Data on blood lead level were extracted and pooled, as appropriate, to make country-specific estimates of the distribution of background blood lead levels among children and adults, along with information on specific sources of exposure where available. 

The researchers searched the PubMed database for the 137 countries in the World bank LMIC grouping.

The search yielded 12,695 studies (between 2010 and 2019). There were 520 unique studies included (1,100 sampled populations from 49 countries comprising more than 1 million individuals). 

Pooled mean blood lead concentrations in children ranged from 1·66 μg/dL in Ethiopia to 9·30 μg/dL in Palestine; in adults the range went from 0·39 μg/dL in Sudan to 11·36 μg/dL in Pakistan. 

Historical causes of exposure

The report noted the greatest historical source of lead exposure was the use of tetraethyl lead as an anti-knocking agent in petrol, which resulted in the dispersion of at least nine million tonnes of lead into the environment.

The global phase-out of leaded petrol began in the US during 1975, and was progressively adopted by high-income countries (HICs) in the 1980s and 1990s.

As a result, the average level of lead in the blood for people aged 1–74 years in the US decreased by 78%, from 12·8 μg/dL to 2·8 μg/dL; similar decreases were noted in other HICs such as Sweden and Germany between 1976 and 1991.

Phase-outs were slow to be adopted in LMICs, but by the end of 2005 nearly all had eliminated use of leaded petrol in automobiles.

Image: Pooled mean background blood lead levels in children in 34 low-income and middle-income countries with available data 

Vehicle OEM Mercedes-Benz, a subsidiary of Daimler, is planning the construction of a battery recycling factory in Kuppenheim, Germany.

Start of operations is planned for 2023, depending on the outcome of discussions with public authorities.

The plan is part of the German firm’s ‘closing the loop’ philosophy to recover raw materials at the end of a battery's life.

Mercedes already ensures the battery housings, cables and the power rails can be recycled, and is involved in the research and development of new recycling technologies and their establishment on the market. 

Part of the work involves working with specialised partner companies, and participating in funding and research projects focused on the reuse of raw materials. 

Mercedes-Benz said it will go all electric by the end of the decade— with the caveat “where market conditions allow”. 

Next year, Mercedes-Benz will have battery electric vehicles in all segments the company serves and, from 2025 onwards, all newly launched vehicle architectures will be electric-only.

Ongoing battery research

Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced plans to research ways to design cobalt and other “critical” materials like lithium out of lithium-ion batteries.

The OEM is looking at a variety of post-lithium-ion batteries— mainly based on manganese— that use less critical resources, as it investigates ways of increasing the energy density of its technology.

Lead battery recycling firm Gopher Resource has been accused of failing to prevent its workers from being exposed to “lead inhalation hazards”, a US federal workplace safety investigation found.

Despite warnings since March 2020 of unsafe measures of lead exposure, the firm failed to make changes required by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at its Tampa, Florida, battery recycling facility and smelter.

The company also failed to provide up to 300 employees with adequate respirators that could have kept worker exposure to hazardous substances at or below the allowable level, states OSHA.

Gopher Resource is a secondary lead smelter, recycling automotive batteries by separating the battery components to capture lead, acid and plastic, before processing those materials.

OSHA area director Danelle Jindra in Tampa, said: “This employer put their bottom line above the safety and well-being of their workers.

“Every worker has the right to a safe workplace, and they should never have to decide between their own health and earning a living. Continuing to put workers in harm’s way is unacceptable, and OSHA will continue to hold employers like Gopher Resource responsible.”

OSHA cited Envirofocus Technologies— operating as Gopher Resource— proposed penalties totalling $319,876.

OSHA also cited Gopher Resource for: 

• Allowing cadmium, lead and inorganic arsenic exposure levels above the permissible exposure limit.
• Not implementing adequate engineering and work practice controls to prevent lead and inorganic arsenic exposure levels above the permissible exposure limit.
• Failing to provide an annual update of the written compliance program for cadmium, inorganic lead and arsenic.
• Allowing workers to share aluminized jackets that were damaged and stored in the open, and exposed to lead.
• Requiring workers to wear respirators that were not fit-tested annually.
• Using shoveling, sweeping or brushing methods to remove lead accumulations.
• Not identifying all hazards on entry permits.

OSHA also cited A&B Maintenance & Construction, a Tampa-based company that provides supplemental maintenance at the Gopher facility, for exposing workers to health hazards by failing to maintain a written respiratory protection program and allowing lead exposure in excess of the permissible exposure limit. 

A&B Maintenance & Construction faces $16,384 in penalties.

The companies have 15 business days from receipt of their citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Tampa facility

Gopher Resource acquired the Tampa facility in 2006 and since has kept an estimated 75+ million lead batteries out of landfills. 

Since the acquisition, Gopher has invested more than $230 million into the facility, of which $140 million was focused on protecting the health and safety of employees and environmental protection.

The 21-acre site has the capacity to recycle 50,000 automotive batteries per day (13 million annually) to produce recycled pure lead and numerous specialty alloys.

The company’s website says it invests 25% of its operating budget to health, safety and environmental stewardship.

Gopher statement

A Gopher statement to BEST read: “Gopher Resource is deeply committed to protecting our people, our community, and the environment. 

“We have spent most of this year working cooperatively with OSHA to review our entire Tampa operation and to identify areas where historical practices could be improved.  

“We have only just received OSHA’s report, and we are still reviewing it in detail, but as part of our continuous focus on protecting people and communities we have already implemented the majority of OSHA’s recommendations. Other recommendations that require further study have been given the highest priority.   

“We would like to thank our employees and management for their steadfast commitment to continuously improving safety and operations.  

“Although the OSHA investigation of our facility is now closed, we continue to work with OSHA regarding their determinations.  Notably, there are some elements of the report that we respectfully disagree with, including the item related to respiratory protection, which we believe is based on inaccurate data and interpretation.

“Moving forward, Gopher remains committed to continuous improvement. Since Gopher acquired the plant 15 years ago, our unwavering commitment to workplace safety has resulted in a steady and sustained decline in the average blood lead level among employees to half of what it was. 

“Employee lead levels are recognised by experts as a leading measure of health and safety and the effectiveness of efforts to protect employees - and we are dedicated to bringing them even lower.”

Electric vehicle maker Arcimoto has launched a battery recycling program with lithium-ion battery recycling company Redivivus.

Redivivus will provide a battery processing solution to Oregan, US, firm Arcimoto’s manufacturing plants, and service and sales centers, based on its hydrometallurgical and electrochemical battery recycling Process.

The materials will be transported to a recycling line designed by Redivivus, where it will use its Redi-Cycle process to convert the materials into secondary materials.

One of the final products is a nickel and cobalt metallic alloy.

Chemicals firm BASF is set to build a prototype battery recycling plant in Germany to develop a method of recovering key lithium-ion materials from end-of-life batteries.

The plant will be located at the site of its cathode active materials (CAM) plant in Schwarzheide, with commissioning planned for early 2023.

The prototype recycling plant will allow for the development of operational procedures and optimisation of technology to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese as well as off-spec material from cell producers and battery material producers. 

The extracted metals will be used to produce new cathode active materials.

Dr. Matthias Dohrn, senior vice president, precious and base metal services at BASF, said: “With this investment in battery recycling, plus leading process technology for manufacturing of cathode active materials, we aim to ‘close the loop’ while reducing the CO₂ footprint of our cathode active materials by up to 60% in total compared to industry standards.”

BASF’s investment supports the European Commission’s agenda towards a European battery production value chain and is part of the ‘Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI)’ approved by the European Commission in 2019, under the European Union State aid rules. 

The plant’s location was announced in February.

Aggressive cathode expansion

In June, BASF is set to form a joint venture with Hunan Shanshan Energy to produce lithium-ion battery cathode active materials (CAM) and precursors (PCAM) in China.

German firm BASF will have a 51% share of the JV when it closes later this summer following the approval of the relevant authorities.

In May, materials firm Umicore and BASF entered into a non-exclusive patent cross-license agreement covering a range of lithium-ion cathode materials and their precursors.