DC Velocity - August 2012

get into all the technical details here, of course, but this look at battery-recycling basics will get you started.

KNOW WHEN TO FOLD ’EM

How do you know when a lift truck battery is ready for recycling? A battery has reached the end of its useful life when it can no longer deliver 80 percent of its rated capacity, says Doug Bouquard, vice president and general manager of sales for East Penn’s Motive Power Division. In simplified terms, the rated capacity refers to the number of amperes of electrical current a battery will deliver over a specified time period under specific temperature conditions.

There are plenty of tools and technologies for evaluating battery performance, but usually it’s pretty evident when a battery has reached the end of the road. “If the forklift driver can’t get a full shift from the battery and is wasting time looking for a better or fully charged battery during a shift, then it’s not cost-effective [to keep using it],” says Tony Adams, manager for service operations at the battery manufacturer EnerSys.

When it’s time to send end-of-life batteries for recycling, Adams says, many people arrange for pickup through their lift truck dealers, or they call the battery manufacturer for assistance. EnerSys, for example, will pick up a full truckload of used batteries; smaller loads typically move by less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier to one of the manufacturer’s regional service centers. Companies that generate truckloads of used batteries also have the option of selling them to brokers, who consolidate batteries and resell them to lead smelters. A few large battery users sell directly to recyclers, Adams says.

For companies that buy batteries directly from a distributor, another option is to swap scrap batteries for credits toward the purchase of new ones. That’s a good choice for anyone who’s unlikely to accumulate a truckload, writes Ben

Levitt of the battery broker Regency Metals in the July 2011 issue of MHEDA Journal. Regardless of who makes the arrangements, it’s a good idea to get documentation confirming that specific batteries have been recycled; this will be useful in proving compliance with the laws and regulations.

Lead-acid batteries are virtually 100-percent recyclable, according to the industry association Battery Council International (BCI). In the typical recycling process, the battery is broken apart and the pieces go into a vat, where the lead and heavy materials fall to the bottom and the polypropylene plastic rises to the top.

The materials are handled in three separate streams. Plastic pieces are washed, dried, melted, and then extruded as plastic pellets, which are then used to manufacture new battery cases. Any parts containing lead are cleaned and then melted together in smelting furnaces. The molten lead is poured into ingot molds. Battery manufacturers melt the ingots and use the lead in the production of new batteries. Battery acid can be neutralized and turned into water, or it can be converted to sodium sulfate, a powder that’s used in laundry detergent, glass, and textile manufacturing. (East Penn, manufacturer of the Deka line of batteries, operates a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency- and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection-permitted smelter facility that also collects the sulfur fumes and turns them into a liquid fertilizer.)

HANDLE WITH CARE

As you might expect when heavy metals and chemicals are involved, federal, state, and municipal regulators have a say in who handles used batteries and how they do it. While most of the regulations governing battery recycling are issued by the federal government, they are also enforced on the state level, says Bouquard. According to Battery Council International, 38 states have battery-recycling laws, and another five have disposal laws. (BCI’s website includes links to some of the state agencies that oversee these activities.)

Don’t assume that the federal authorities will be the toughest, cautions Adams of EnerSys. “Some states are more stringent than the federal government, and some local regulations are more stringent than the state rules,” he says.