How much lead is in a car battery?

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

As you know, a car battery contains lead. At the same time, many motorists, after the source of electricity in the car fails, independently disassemble the old battery just in order to get lead. For many motorists, the question “How much lead is in the battery?” becomes relevant.

The purpose of removing lead from the battery

Before starting a story about how to extract lead from a battery, it is worth deciding what can be done with the extracted material. Firstly, lead is highly valued at scrap and non-ferrous metal collection points, therefore, by handing over a large amount of it, you can get quite a decent amount of money. Secondly, avid fishermen from the extracted metal melt sinkers, motivating their actions by the fact that it is not worth paying for what is already available.

Some even add lead shavings to the paint to make it last longer on the painted surface. Craftsmen collect new batteries, which are their ownkind of alternative power source for certain appliances and devices.

Car battery device

Many car enthusiasts believe that pure lead is included in the design of a car battery, which is the reason for the large weight of this battery. However, this statement is false.

In fact, there is very little purified lead in the battery, approximately 15-20% of the total mass. The remaining 80-85% are oxides (lead "mixed" with other elements, and even metals). At the same time, we must not forget that the plastic case also has its own weight. The same statement is true for the electrolyte (a highly conductive liquid) used in a battery.

In order to answer the question of how much lead is in the battery, it is necessary to divide all the components of the battery into components and express their presence as a percentage.

So, in percentage terms, the composition in a car battery is as follows:

• Lead, as well as oxides and dioxides: sixty to seventy percent of the weight of the device.
• Electrolyte (most often a sulfuric acid solution is used in this capacity), it takes about twenty percent of the total mass of the battery.
• Plastic housing, baffles, and other PVC elements, about eight to ten percent of the total battery weight.

For greater clarity, as an example, it is worth disassembling a 55-ampbattery. He weighs about fifteen kilograms. The metal occupies 10.5 kilograms in such a battery, one and a half kilograms are spent on plastic and PVC, the rest is given to the electrolyte - 3 kilograms.

Thus, with a 55-amp battery, you can get about 3-4 kg of pure lead. However, the process of remelting is rather complicated. Topics remain open regarding the actual amount of lead after smelting, as well as the decomposition of dioxides into lead and other components. Therefore, the question of how much lead is in the battery is still open.

How much lead is in batteries of different "calibers"?

The table below shows the mass of batteries of different capacities. The top line shows the capacity of the batteries, the second line gives the value of the total weight of the device for energy storage, the third line shows the proportion of lead that is in the battery in its pure form, and it can be mined. The fourth column gives the mass of lead, together with oxides and dioxides.

55 Ah	60 Ah	75 Ah	90 Ah	190 Ah
15kg	17kg	22kg	27kg	43kg
About 3 kg	Approximately 3.4 kg	Approximately 5.4kg	Approximately 4.4 kg	Approximately 8.6 kg
Share of lead together with compounds 10, 5kg	Share of lead together with compounds 11, 9 kg	Share of lead together with compounds 15, 4 kg	Share of lead together with compounds 18, 9kg	Share of lead together with compounds 30, 1kg

Based on their data, which are presented in the above table, we can conclude that far from the entire mass of the battery is pure lead, and its percentage of the total mass of the battery is negligible.

How much lead is in a 55 Ah battery?

A 55 Ah battery contains ten and a half kilograms of lead along with oxides and dioxides. The purified metal will turn out only about three kilograms. At the same time, a plastic case and PVC partitions weigh about one and a half kilograms.

Because the total weight of pure metal is quite low, disassembly and extraction of lead from this battery is impractical. Much more time and effort will be spent than money can be saved. Therefore, it is best to bring the battery to a scrap metal collection point.

The proportion of lead in the battery is 60 Ah

If everything is clear with a 55 A/h battery, how much lead is in a 60 A/h battery, and is it profitable to mine it? A 60 Ah car battery contains about twelve kilograms of lead and its impurities.

If we talk about pure lead, then insuch a battery is no more than three or four kilograms. In this case, the rest of the mass consists of the weight of the body: plastic and PVC partitions. The difference in specific gravity is not huge, so the conclusion suggests itself.

How to disassemble an old battery?

Before starting to describe the process of disassembling an old battery, it is worth noting that batteries were made collapsible in the USSR. On the Soviet device, it was possible to replace one or several cans, and reassemble the device.

Batteries that are currently being produced do not require outside intervention. The manufacturer creates these devices with the expectation that after the expiration of their service life, the motorist will get rid of the failed battery and purchase a new one.

Because before going to disassemble the battery, you should practice on a non-working instance. It is also important to add that after disassembling and assembling the battery, its operation becomes a very, very big question.

To disassemble the device, you need to arm yourself with rubber gloves, goggles, a jigsaw designed for cutting metal, a grinder, pliers, a hammer, a flat screwdriver, a chisel, a high-power soldering iron, a drill, and a building hair dryer.

Batteries are mainly filled with acid, which is diluted with distilled water to a certain density. The electrolyte in contact with human skin causes severe chemical burns. Forto protect yourself from the harmful effects of the electrolyte, it must be drained. This is done by drilling holes in the bottom of the jar. The ventilation of the cans must first be closed. And a glass container is placed under the drilled holes, and the electrolyte will merge there. If the battery is not equipped with plugs, then the holes should be made from the side where the plugs should be located. This will drain the electrolyte much faster.

After the electrolyte has been drained, you need to rinse the jars with water. Further, with a grinder or a jigsaw, following the perimeter of the battery, the cover from the battery case is sawn off. Then you should pull on the cover. It is quite possible that together with the sawn-off element it will be possible to pull out the battery plates. In this case, the cover will easily come off the drive terminals. If this does not happen, then you will have to work with a chisel and hammer and manually remove the battery plates.

After following the above steps, you can access the "insides" of the battery.

Self-smelting lead

There is a widespread belief that lead from a battery melts easily at home on a stove: gas or electric. Yes, indeed, it is.

But at the same time, the available metal melts: terminals, bridges and grating. In order to extract the rest of the lead, it is necessary to reach a temperature of 600-1000 degrees and at the same time use special chemicals. However, oxides and dioxides also containlead. When answering the question of how much lead is in a 55 A / h battery, it is worth considering not only low-melting metal. One should also take into account the one that can be obtained from oxides and dioxides using reagents and high temperatures.

So the questions, how much pure lead is in a battery and how much lead is in it in general, have slightly different answers: the first answer will concern metal, which is easy to obtain at home. The second is all the lead that is in the car battery.

Is it advisable to disassemble the battery?

Based on the foregoing, it is worth answering that it is much more profitable and efficient to immediately return the battery to a collection point or to the manufacturing plant. Thus, you can get more money (compared to the amount that you can get for "lead crumbs"), and save time and effort.

How to determine the amount of lead in a battery?

In order to find out how much lead is in the battery, you should take into account the weight of the electrolyte, case, and lead, along with impurities of other metals.

You can also just use the presented table. In general, the indicators of the amount of this metal in batteries of various brands are approximately the same. Therefore, if the question of how much lead is in a car battery is still haunting, you can try to calculate its weight yourself.

Calculation order

In order to find out how much lead is in a car battery, it follows from the total massdevices, subtract the weight of the electrolyte, as well as the ceilings and housing. The mass of all these parts is a constant component of all batteries, so the order of calculation in all cases will be the same. After these manipulations, you can find out how many kilograms of lead are in the battery.

To determine the exact amount of pure metal, it is necessary to take into account the fact that part of the lead in the battery is with impurities. For example, solving the problem of how much lead is in a 55 A / h battery, you can answer that 3 kg. But 1.5 kilograms in such a battery is occupied by partitions and a case, and three kilograms by an electrolyte.

To answer the above questions, you need to know the percentage of lead in the battery.

Precautions when disassembling an old battery

As mentioned earlier, the battery contains a rather aggressive substance for the environment - an electrolyte. Therefore, when disassembling the battery, it is necessary to show maximum accuracy and accuracy. Protective goggles and thick rubber gloves should be used. If possible, it is better to use a protective coat, at least at the stage when the electrolyte is drained.

Conclusion

Summarizing the above, it is worth noting that there is no need to disassemble the battery to extract the lead. Especially in order to hand over this valuable metal to a scrap collection point.

The thing is that the vast majority of lead in the battery is in the form of oxides andDioxides, splitting into impurities and pure metal requires special equipment, high temperatures and chemicals. Therefore, it is much more expedient to hand over the whole battery to the collection point for old devices or to the manufacturing plant. This step will bring in much more money for much less time.

Besides, the answer to the question of how many kg of lead is in the battery will not solve all other difficulties. Disassembling a battery is a difficult and dangerous task. The battery contains an electrolyte that can cause severe chemical burns.

In order to calculate the amount of lead in a battery, you only need to know the total percentage of lead in the battery, both pure and with impurities.