Discharged chemical cocktail

Many devices and toys are sold with a pack of short-life, non-rechargeable, batteries, which ultimately end up in household waste incineration plants if they do not reach a landfill. The quantitative evaluation of emissions from waste incineration is a critical component of complete life-cycle assessment studies of essentially non-recyclable products, such as alkaline batteries.

With this in mind, a team led by Manuel Almeida of the faculty of engineering, at the University of Porto, in Portugal, simulated the waste-incineration process of samples of AA alkaline batteries of the kind used to power everyday gadgets such as motorised toys, small flashlights and telephones.¹ Components of such batteries with desirable recyclable materials are: the cathode, which contains manganese dioxide and graphite; the can, comprising a nickel-plated steel cathode collector; an anode containing zinc and zinc oxide; and potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte.