Battery recycling
First Claim
1. A method of recycling sealed batteries, comprising:
- shredding said batteries to form a shredded feedstock;
heating said shredded feedstock above ambient temperature and below the boiling point of mercury while rolling said shredded feedstock to form a dried material;
screen separating said dried material into a coarse fraction and a powder fraction;
and outputting said powder fraction;
wherein said batteries are alkaline batteries containing mercury, said heating while rolling evaporates a portion of said mercury from said feedstock, and wherein said powder fraction comprises zinc oxide, manganese dioxide, and potassium hydroxide.
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Abstract
In a method of recycling sealed batteries, the batteries are shredded to form a shredded feedstock. The shredded feedstock is heated above ambient temperature and rolled to form a dried material. The dried material is screen separated into a coarse fraction and a powder fraction and the powder fraction is output. A system for recycling sealed cell batteries comprises an oven with a first conveyor extending into the oven. A rotatable tunnel extends within the oven from an output of the first conveyor. The tunnel has a spiral vane depending from its inner surface which extends along a length of the tunnel. A second conveyor is positioned below an output of the rotatable tunnel.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method of recycling sealed batteries, comprising:
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shredding said batteries to form a shredded feedstock; heating said shredded feedstock above ambient temperature and below the boiling point of mercury while rolling said shredded feedstock to form a dried material; screen separating said dried material into a coarse fraction and a powder fraction; and outputting said powder fraction; wherein said batteries are alkaline batteries containing mercury, said heating while rolling evaporates a portion of said mercury from said feedstock, and wherein said powder fraction comprises zinc oxide, manganese dioxide, and potassium hydroxide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of recycling sealed batteries, the batteries selected from the group consisting of alkaline batteries, zinc carbon batteries, zinc chloride batteries, manganese batteries nickel metal hydride batteries the method comprising
shredding said batteries to form a shredded feedstock; -
heating said shredded feedstock above ambient temperature while rolling said shredded feedstock to form a dried material; screen separating said dried material into a coarse fraction and a powder fraction; and outputting said powder fraction; further comprising magnetically separating said coarse fraction into a magnetic component and a non-magnetic component; further comprising immersing said magnetic component in a first water bath and passing water from said first water bath through a screen to separate magnetic solids, and outputting said magnetic solids. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of recycling sealed batteries containing mercury, comprising:
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shredding said batteries to form a shredded feedstock; heating said shredded feedstock above ambient temperature and below the boiling point of mercury while rolling said shredded feedstock to evaporate a portion of said mercury from said feedstock to form a mercury reduced dried material; screen separating said dried material into a coarse fraction and a powder fraction; and outputting said powder fraction.
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Specification