Developing Electrolyte for a Soluble Lead Redox Flow Battery by Reprocessing Spent Lead Acid Battery Electrodes

Keletso Orapeleng,Andrew Cruden,Richard Wills

doi:10.3390/batteries3020015

Keletso Orapeleng, Andrew Cruden + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries3020015

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Journal: Batteries	Publication Date: May 3, 2017
Citations: 10	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Southampton

Abstract

The archival value of this paper is the investigation of novel methods to recover lead (II) ions from spent lead acid battery electrodes to be used directly as electrolyte for a soluble lead flow battery. The methods involved heating electrodes of spent lead acid batteries in methanesulfonic acid and hydrogen peroxide to dissolve solid lead and lead dioxide out of the electrode material. The processes yielded lead methanesulfonate, which is an electrolyte for the soluble lead acid battery. The lead (II) ions in the electrolyte were identified using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy and their electrochemistry confirmed using cyclic voltammetry. The concentration of lead (II) ions was determined and it was found that using the higher concentration of hydrogen peroxide yielded the highest concentration of lead (II) ions. The method was therefore found to be sufficient to make electrolyte for a soluble lead cell.

Highlights

Energy storage is essential to enable uptake of renewable energy [1]
Systems, it is not always possible to charge the battery before storage as availability of electricity is dependent on local weather [2]
This paper presents a method to make electrolyte for a soluble lead flow battery by harvesting lead directly from end-of-life lead acid batteries

Summary

Introduction

Energy storage is essential to enable uptake of renewable energy [1]. Lead acid batteries, a well-established technology that is accessible world-wide, emerged as a convenient technology for renewable energy storage applications in [2]. Despite being a mature technology and relatively low priced (£150/kWh), lead acid batteries are sensitive to incorrect use They are sensitive to temperatures above the design 25 ◦ C; releasing more energy at high temperatures and deteriorating more quickly, which reduces battery life by as much as 50% for each 8–10 K temperature increase [2,3]. Redox flow batteries are emerging as a viable option for stationary energy storage [6,7,8] This type of battery, depending on the technology, offers a complement of qualities superior to those of the conventional lead acid battery, including higher cycle-life, tolerance to deep cycling [8], tolerance to wider temperature ranges, better temperature control and faster charge and discharge rates [6].

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