Zinc Pollution Potential of Consumer Battery Litter
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 9
Abstract
Consumer batteries in urban litter can be significant sources of storm-water pollution. Recent studies have reported annual urban battery litter rates as high as 215 batteries per hectare of pavement and 0.4 batteries per meter of street curb. On average, 75% of these batteries are leaking or have already discharged their internal reactants. However, many battery sizes, brands, and power chemistries are littered and this diversity makes it difficult to quantify their cumulative pollution potential. The amount of zinc released from AA size alkaline and zinc chloride/zinc carbon (ZnCl/ZnC) batteries which account for approximately 90% of urban battery litter is examined. Results are presented for batch rupture release extractions of 52 alkaline battery products yielding zinc releases of 20–40 mg/L and 57 ZnCl/ZnC products yielding zinc releases of 400–1,400 mg/L. Results of continuous flow column extractions are also presented to gauge releases following initial battery rupture. Disassembly analyses are used to bound the total zinc release potential of common battery products. Results indicate that ZnCl/ZnC batteries release more zinc when they are first ruptured, but if deterioration is complete, alkaline batteries can release approximately 25% more zinc. Therefore, the relative importance of these two classes of batteries depends on site-specific factors such as the proportion of each in litter, battery deterioration rates, and the length of time that battery litter remains unremediated by maintenance.
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Acknowledgments
This research was conducted with the support of National Science Foundation Grant Nos. NSFCMS 99–01108 and NSFCBTE-0650675. The writer also acknowledge the efforts of Elizabeth Barns, Joseph Felix, Sara Hise, Caleb Krouse, Ryan Quinn, Adam Rozsa, and Ryan Troy for their contributions to the physical and chemical analysis of consumer batteries found in urban battery litter.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 9 • September 2009
Pages: 815 - 823
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 13, 2008
Accepted: Jan 3, 2009
Published online: Aug 14, 2009
Published in print: Sep 2009
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