Recovery of Zinc from Used Alkali-Manganese Dry Cells

摘要

A new method that does not require pre-processing or the use of auxiliary materials has been investigated to recover zinc, manganese, and copper from mercury-free used alkaline-manganese dry cells. The anode product, zinc oxide, was reduced by carbon which is added to the positive reactants to improve electrical conductivity, and is also generated through thermal decomposition of separators and resin gaskets. Subsequently, metallic zinc was recovered by vaporization. With respect to the residues, copper could be separated quite easily from the steel container. With the proposed method, after the removal of zinc and copper, there is the possibility for promoting utilization of the remainder of the used dry cells as steel scrap.