The lead flow analysis and environmental footprint of lead-acid battery in mainland China

Lead-acid battery (LAB), one kind of chemical battery, is widely used in cars and electric vehicles. From 2009 to 2015, LABs production in mainland China increased from 120 million KVAh to 210 million KVAh. However, the... [ view full abstract ]

Lead-acid battery (LAB), one kind of chemical battery, is widely used in cars and electric vehicles. From 2009 to 2015, LABs production in mainland China increased from 120 million KVAh to 210 million KVAh. However, the serious pollution in the process of LAB production and disposal of waste LAB is the concerning environmental issue. Therefore, we firstly quantified the lead flow in LAB from raw material extraction to disposal with MFA in mainland China in 2015. Then, the environmental loads of LABs were analyzed based on the life cycle assessment methodology. 14 kinds of environmental categories were chosen to be analyzed and compared between the primary lead and regenerated lead under the status condition of mainland China. The results indicated that the amount of lead used in LABS accounted for 67% of the total lead production while the recycling rate of LABs was 74% in 2015. it was also found that most of the regenerated lead was used in LABs production. According to the results of the life cycle analysis of the LABs, the largest environmental loads came from the raw materials extraction and processing of lead, which averagely accounted for 81.7% in the different environmental impact loads. The results also showed the environmental loads from the primary lead were significantly higher than the regenerated lead. On the basis of the results, there are several practical measures should be taken to reduce the environmental loads of LABs in mainland China, such as building the effective LAB recycling systems, enlarging the market share of the regenerated lead, and avoiding the long-distance transportation of the waste battery.