# Recycling used battery acid



## qst42know (Nov 20, 2008)

I understand used battery acid will contain lead and that you shouldn't use used battery acid for the small additions when de-noxing, and maybe not for making poor mans nitric. When dealing with e-scrap you usually need to deal with lead anyway. 

If filtered how much lead would remain?

However wouldn't it be acceptable (after concentrated) in a gold cell, being that it is a dirty process anyway and the resulting gold recovered would be twice refined afterwards?

I have access to more than I could ever use for free and would be interested in ideas to get the lead out. 

Are there any reasonably easy (cheap) ways to get this job done?


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## Harold_V (Nov 20, 2008)

I never made my own nitric, but one thing I know. Lead in sulfuric acid exists as a sulfide, so it's a solid. Remember, sulfuric acid is introduced to gold chloride solution to eliminate lead that is dissolved. 

I would assume that you could filter the dilute solutions before concentrating (by evaporation) and have no residual lead. Only if there are circumstances where lead could be in solution would it be a concern. You may require comments from Steve or Lou on this one. I try to remind readers that I am not a chemist and don't always understand reactions properly. 

If I was in your position and I was faced with an unlimited supply of free sulfuric, I'd sure as hell give it a go. What do you have to lose? Just insure that your final product (nitric) has no solid substances included. 

Harold


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## butcher (Nov 21, 2008)

Used battery would usually have bad cell or total dead cells, and there the sulfuric has sulfated the lead, and would be almost just be water very little acid.
the cells that are not trashed will be discharged mostly water, if you can charge the cell or it is charged then will have a higher acid content,
the acid could be distilled to get a pure product of dilute acid. and then boiled to concentrate.
the battery is very corrosive and spilled acid lead can contaminate just about everything it comes into contact with leading to dangers to our water systems and your property etc.
then you have the lead most all of it Has sulfated maybe only a small portion of which can be melted back to pure lead, the major portion of sulfated lead will not melt, but even trying this releases tons of sulfuric acid into vapors of the smoke.also lead in these vapors.
this is a major health risk.
this is not worth even trying and if you want EPA to shut you down could cost you your health ect. for what a few cents worth of metals?
you would spend alot of time and energy and gain nothing but distruction of our enviroment and your health.

never use used batterys for sulfuric acid, it is readily available everywhere, one of the most available chemicals worldwide, and is very cheap.
my$ OO.O2 cents


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## qst42know (Nov 21, 2008)

My situation is somewhat unique as these batteries are damaged not depleted. The lead is returned to the factory for recycling and no credit is given for the acid.


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## butcher (Nov 21, 2008)

if they are charged more acid.


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## qst42know (Nov 21, 2008)

Good to know. Thanks Butcher.

Now if I could only find a garden center that would allow me to have the split bags of nitrate :wink:


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## Lou (Nov 21, 2008)

Sulfuric acid is dirt cheap. Probably the most widely produced chemical in the world. I can't see why anyone would really want to recycle battery acid, especially when it is likely contaminated with lead sulfate.

However, any lead present would have no effect if you were distilling your nitric acid. 

I suppose since it's free you should give it a go.


Lou


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## qst42know (Nov 21, 2008)

My only excuse is free trumps cheap.


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## Harold_V (Nov 21, 2008)

qst42know said:


> My only excuse is free trumps cheap.



It also provides more service before becoming something that needs to be discarded. I think it's a good idea from an ecological standpoint. 

Harold


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## Joe (Nov 22, 2008)

I have tried it. I drained an old battery. I filtered out the black particulate. I put the acid in a crockpot and steamed off the water. It came out very clear and concentrated. Make sure you filter when dilute. I tried filtering the concentrate and it instantly dissolved the filter and for that matter any other organic material it contacted.


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## Anonymous (Dec 19, 2008)

I went Down to NAPA and bought a five Gallon Box of Sulfuric Acid for $12.85. That was with Tax here in CA Yes it comes in a card board box. The Cardboard box has a plastic container inside of it. and that has a tube that comes out one end of it. You then cut the end of the tube off and decant what ever amount you need. It has a clip to be able to reseal the tube.

Why mess around with using used stuff that you do not know the quality of? Just because you are not going out and buying an item does not mean it is totally free. There can be other cost's later on down the road. It may not cost you but it just might cost someone else. I have seen freebie stuff cost others their life before. I am not making the statement that this will do so. Still who knows it just mighthurt them more than we will ever know.

73
dray


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## qst42know (Dec 19, 2008)

drayegon said:


> I have seen freebie stuff cost others their life before.
> 73
> dray



Can you elaborate on this story. Who was it that died? And from what?


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## Anonymous (Dec 21, 2008)

> Can you elaborate on this story. Who was it that died? And from what?


What does the name of a person,and how stupid he was have to do with the use of chemicals in this forum?

I am sure dozens of people can think of newspaper stories and anecdotes that refer to people being cheap and trying to get things for free. Their attempt to do this often causing great bodily harm and some times death.

How about Jose Dingaling that tried to pull down the coiled up bunch of copper wire. Problem was it still had lots of electricity running through it. Yes and according to the newspaper it killed him.

Only the names and everything was changed to protect the innocent.

73
dray


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## qst42know (Dec 21, 2008)

Recycling battery acid has no more risks associated with it than using new battery acid. Each will need boiled to concentrate, one slightly longer than the other. It does far less harm to recycle this material than dispose of it.

What someone can steal should never be confused with free. 

And yes around here at the peak of the scrap prices while some were stripping the aluminum siding from vacant houses to the height they could reach. One enterprising thief stole most of the wrought aluminum poles from under a porch roof. I say most of them because he didn't get away with the last one as it indeed was holding up the roof. He was crushed to death on the spot.


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## Anonymous (Dec 22, 2008)

Whether you believe in God or not. Or your version of God. It is kind of nice to once in a while that the things that happen do so with a good reason.

Actually it is kind of a shame that the roof fell on him. Just think how good he would have been as a target. You see I for one do believe in GUN Control.
I have always enjoyed being able to hit what I shoot at. I have tried to make time to go to the shooting range at least once per month. With the way thing are going on and the way everything is going to be over the next 50years. It would be great if everyone would follow this ideal. I know it is a lot of money to some any more but I feel that being a member of the NRA and the GPAA are just a few of the ways we can work to keep our lives free in this age of removing our right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

73
dray


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## solar seeker (Aug 1, 2010)

Sorry for the necro post but dead car batteries are a pretty decent method to get sulfuric acid provided you filter it before boiling it down other wise the dust and contaminants will turn your acid a murky brown which is unsightly but doesn't harm the concentration of the acid or it's effectiveness for most small scale uses.
It's fairly easy to estimate the concentration while you're boiling it down because the acid has a boiling point that's quite a bit higher than that of water meaning that until the acid reaches above 70% concentration only water will boil out after that point the steam becomes very nasty as the sulfuric acid begins to boil. If you continue to boil it you will get increasingly high concentrations until about 97%.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Aug 1, 2010)

solar seeker said:


> Sorry for the necro post but dead car batteries are a pretty decent method to get sulfuric acid provided you filter it before boiling it down other wise the dust and contaminants will turn your acid a murky brown which is unsightly but doesn't harm the concentration of the acid or it's effectiveness for most small scale uses.
> It's fairly easy to estimate the concentration while you're boiling it down because the acid has a boiling point that's quite a bit higher than that of water meaning that until the acid reaches above 70% concentration only water will boil out after that point the steam becomes very nasty as the sulfuric acid begins to boil. If you continue to boil it you will get increasingly high concentrations until about 97%.



Evaporate it.


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