Comparative Analysis Of Environment And Economy On Recycling Process Of Spent Lead Acid Batteries Recycling

The volume of lead batteries scrapped in China reached 3,500 tonnes by 2016,as primary lead resources are becoming less and less available,more and more attention is being focused on the used spent lead acid batteries recycling industry.Recycled lead can reduce the consumption of lead ore and mitigate the ecological damage caused by waste,but recycled lead manufacturing enterprises are highly polluting enterprises and have many impacts on the environment.Therefore,a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and economic benefits of the production process of recycled lead manufacturing enterprises can help enterprises to choose a better production process and identify the direction of production process upgrading.In this paper,an economic efficiency model based on the LCC model is developed for the recycling system of used lead batteries,and the environmental impacts and economic efficiency of two production systems using pyro-smelting and solid phase electrolysis are evaluated using energy value analysis and case studies.The case studies are two recycling companies in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces with an annual production capacity of 100,000tonnes of recycled lead.This is followed by a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the results pointing to future directions for technological upgrading.Finally,the problems that limit the development of China’s spent lead acid batteries recycling industry are analysed and recommendations are made from three aspects:the state,the industry and the enterprises.The results of the study show that:（i）The difference in investment costs between the two systems is not significant,but in terms of operating costs,maintenance costs and repair costs,the solid phase electrolytic process recovery system is lower,so the net profit per tonne of crude lead is RMB 1100 for the solid phase electrolytic process recovery system and RMB 800 for the pyrometallurgical process recovery system.（ii）Solid phase electrolysis and pyrometallurgical recovery systems have a public health and ecological impact of 3.71×10⁵ and 3.91×10⁹ for every$1 of product produced.（iii）The energy sustainability indicators for the solid phase electrolysis and pyrometallurgical recovery systems are 3.13×10^-3 and 4.24×10^-4respectively.Studies have shown that:recovery systems using the solid phase electrolysis process are more profitable;the solid phase electrolysis process consumes far less non-renewable resources and energy than the pyrometallurgical process;and the ecological and public health impacts of pyrometallurgical recovery systems are far greater than those of the solid phase electrolysis process.Therefore,companies should prefer the solid phase electrolysis process in the construction of their production lines,and the solid phase electrolysis process recovery system has greater potential for future development and should be taken seriously by industry researchers.