Data from: Lead acid battery recycling for the 21st century

There is a growing need to develop novel processes to recover lead from
end-of-life lead-acid batteries, due to increasing energy costs of
pyrometallurgical lead recovery, the resulting CO2 emissions and the
catastrophic health implications of lead exposure from lead-to-air
emissions. To address these issues, we are developing an
iono-metallurgical process, aiming to displace the pyrometallurgical
process that has dominated lead production for millennia. The proposed
process involves the dissolution of Pb salts into the DES Ethaline 200, a
liquid formed when a 1:2 molar ratio of choline chloride and ethylene
glycol are mixed together. Once dissolved the Pb can be recovered through
electrodeposition and the liquid can then be recycled for further Pb
recycling. Firstly, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are being used to
dissolve the lead compounds (PbCO3, PbO, PbO2 and PbSO4) involved and
their solubilities measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission
spectrometry (ICP-OES). The resulting Pb2+ species are then reduced and
electrodeposited as elemental lead at the cathode of an electrochemical
cell; cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry are being used to determine
the electrodeposition behaviour and mechanism. The electrodeposited films
were characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We discuss the implications and
opportunities of such processes.