Disposal of dead solar batteries

[Short_Shot]

Oh and if you're in an industrial or otherwise commercial situation the above disposal is not acceptable however and you're subject to various regulations on the matter.

This is primarily to prevent large scale abuse.

(I'm the containment/spill guy at work)

At home dumping sulfuric acid down the drain is only a risk if it's concentrated enough to damage your sink or pipes or if you're dumb enough to splash it on yourself. Not only is it not regulated but as stated previously there are sulfuric acid products designed to be dumped down the drain.

Just be sure you safely dilute it rather heavily before pouring it by adding the acid to the water rather than the other way around.

 

[Wellbuilt]

I’m no expert either but from what I under stand the problem is in melting the lead with the Sulfation on it , the stuff gives off dangerous fumes not that we should be sniffing melted lead any way .
I cook range led in a big cast pot out side to clean it up , but use a small fern ice to cast from so not to much to worry about
There , I have a exhaust fan blowing the nastys out the side wall

 

[Short_Shot]

I’m no expert either but from what I under stand the problem is in melting the lead with the Sulfation on it , the stuff gives off dangerous fumes not that we should be sniffing melted lead any way .
I cook range led in a big cast pot out side to clean it up , but use a small fern ice to cast from so not to much to worry about
There , I have a exhaust fan blowing the nastys out the side wall

The lead is far worse than the acid lol

 

[A.Justice]

In fact if you're that worried about it, and your electrolyte is actually sulfuric acid, I'm fairly certain you can mix it with sodium hydroxide and turn it into literal saltwater. Albeit, this salt is a sulfate and you don't want to drink it. But it is a neutralization process.

But please consult an expert before trying this at home kids. I am not an expert.

For your average DIY, I would suggest that people use baking soda to neutralize acid before they jump over to using super caustic NaOH.

You aren't wrong though, dilute lye would work just fine, but it would be much safer to use baking soda, rather than another dangerous chemical.

 

[Short_Shot]

For your average DIY, I would suggest that people use baking soda to neutralize acid before they jump over to using super caustic NaOH.

You aren't wrong though, dilute lye would work just fine, but it would be much safer to use baking soda, rather than another dangerous chemical.

Oh absolutely lol

 

[curiouscarbon]

Baking soda easy to get safe to handle

 

[MichaelK]

The sulfuric acid is NOT the most dangerous component in a modern battery. That can be dealt with through dilution. What is really dangerous is the arsenic that modern lead batteries are alloyed with. When melting the battery lead, through the standard cleaning process of fluxing, separates out the different metals, and the arsenic partitions out with the fluxing dross. The dross gets spooned off the top leaving the lead "cleaner".

That part is no big deal, but if the arsenic-enriched dross absorbs moisture, deadly arsenate gas get emmited. Commercial recyclers have special exhausts to deal with this. A guy working in his garage will not.

BTW, my standard bullet alloy is now 19lb of wheelweights alloyed with 1lb of Selangor pewter, which is 97% tin, 3% antimony. It closely mimics Lyman alloy #2 and I can push rifle bullets to about 1800fps without significant leading.

 

[Short_Shot]

. Commercial recyclers have special exhausts to deal with this. A guy working in his garage will not.

I mean.

Don't do it in the garage then.

 

[Tecnodave]

Dont know about where you but they are worth about $70.00 here in california for the type that you have, Interstate charges >$50.00 core each if you do not have cores...

 

[Tecnodave]

The one battery you can not recycle but you are required to is Flooded Nickel-Cadium..(Wet Cell) ..these are extremely toxic and if you have them you must hire a disposal company to deal with them. Its several thousands of dollars to deal with them and only a few companies deal with them. Here in California most jurisdictions have free battery recycle for all types EXCEPT......Flooded Nickel Cadmium. The closest Flooded Ni-Cad recycler is in Texas

Consumer Ni-Cad are not wet and recycle along with all other battery types.

Other Dangerous types are LiPo (fire hazard) and mercury (toxic)

 

[Rossman]

OP: Here in Ontario, Canada, Total Battery will buy them from you.

 

[Eastgip]

Solar panels are dangerous to just throw in the trash, because their materials contain silicon, which is dangerous to the environment and to us. Suppose it is buried, and these batteries begin to contaminate the earth, thereby poisoning the soil and groundwater, which we subsequently consume in the home. If I were you, I would contact a company that is engaged in the removal and recycling of waste. I, for example, use the services of rubbish removal Birmingham, it is environmentally friendly and useful. We need to think about nature.