Getting lead from Batteries......

[steyr_m]

On the heels of Gaillo's " Lead... the OTHER precious metal" thread....

I'd like to get the lead from car batteries for melting down to ingots [for use later for trade/sale]; but don't know what to do with the acid. Can I pour Sodium Bicarbonate down the holes and neutralize it and pour it down the sink [seems like I probably can't.....]? Or do I have to take it to a hazmat facility[after it's been neutralized]?

[Dogman]

If you do , do it outdoors and away from anything you care for. The posts and connecting bars maybe are worth saving, the plates I am not so sure of.

Some will say it is not worth the risks involved, dealing with the acid, and the fumes produced if the heat is hot enough to make things smoke.

[Neuro]

It is easier stealing keels from sailing boats... ;D

[SLV^GLD]

Well, if you're stealing it, the easiest would be the balancing weights on practically every wheel of every car.
That said, lots of auto shops have a pile of removed weights that they must be doing something with.

[Santa]

Just call the EPA. They'll tell you what you need to do... Oh, and make sure you fill out ALL the paperwork
when the Hazmat team shows up.

Lead. Todays asbestos.

[freespirit]

from www.scrapmonster.com

last week's scrap price for lead:


Lead 0.47 0.69 -31%


i wonder why the price has dropped so much recently...? if it's down .69, would that affect bulk prices for handloading? and if so, would it not be a good idea to stock up at the lower price?

for that matter, what about salvaging lead to make your own bullets? anyone ever tried this?

---just thinking out loud here...sorry! lol ;D

[Audry1977]

It was quite the condition that there are many out there just waiting for the right .

[steyr_m]

It was quite the condition that there are many out there just waiting for the right .

Huh?

[osoab]

It was quite the condition that there are many out there just waiting for the right .


Huh?

Excellent 1st post for Audry.

[steyr_m]

I saw a special one night showing batteries that came from the US being recycled, they were sent to some little Asian speaking village out in the middle of a jungle where they have 0 enviro laws.

A forklift would pick up a pallet full and dump them on the ground where a bunch of kids would pick them up and drop them on a conveyor belt, the conveyor went up a steep incline and standing on the stairs was a whole line of men, women, and kids with a hatchet in each hand chopping at the batteries to crack the cases open.

The only safety gear they wore was what looked like a homemade apron and a few wore glasses but they showed closeups of some of the workers and they all had nasty acid burns covering their entire body.

The conveyor dumped the broken batteries into a giant smelting pot like you see in foundries, big clouds of smoke was billowing out of the top and a couple guys were scraping off the slag and throwing it down a chute where it was hauled off and dumped in a pile.

The battery acid would run down the conveyor and into a ditch which drained into a river a short distance away, nothing lived in the river for 20 miles downstream and all the trees along the river were leafless stumps for as far as you could see.

Holy crap!!! That place is doomed for a long time. I wonder what the mortality rate is for the area.

I was thinking of neutralizing the acid. Dump out the former acid into a container and dispose of it properly. Crack the case open and get the remainder of the plates and their flakes, the posts, etc... Then melt it down. Seems easy enough

[steyr_m]

The wheel weights is a much safer and easier method. But hurry, lead wheel weights are being phased out all over America!

To be replaced with what?

[SLV^GLD]

To be replaced with what?

http://patchboy.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=P&Category_Code=3-27

http://www.moderntiredealer.com/Article/Print/Story/2011/08/Weighing-in-on-lead-free-wheel-weight-legislation.aspx