Recycling of lead from spent batteries in the Trepça complex in Mitrovica,Kosovo

Abstract

In this paper, research has been done on the possibilities of recycling lead from secondary materials, with special emphasis from spent batteries and that through pyrometallurgical processes. The recycling of lead from spent batteries is different in different countries, for example. in America it is 85%, while in Germany, France, Italy it is about 90%, and Japan with 95%, but there are also companies that base their production mainly from secondary lead materials and from spent batteries, pipes, plates, rods, etc. Such a process is designed for the recycling of spent batteries in the former Mining and Metallurgical Combine "Trepça" in Mitrovica, where the production rate was about 15,000t/y, but the max. capacity. of production was up to 20,000 t/y spent batteries. The battery plant is in good condition, but the rotary furnace and connected off-gas treatment systems are not operating and the old refinery is in a poorer condition, so the design is done for all operations in the new refinery. Mass and heat balance was also done. For the purpose of defining the demands of the unit for the bag filter, in the rotary furnace. The work is reasonable not only from the economic aspect of the exploitation of useful metals, but also from the environmental aspect, due to the fact that the toxicity of such a material is even wider.