I wish you would make a mini setup for sampling or hobbyists. Like a tiny turn key toy setup. How cool would that be? Mini hammer mill, mini conveyuers and shaker table too.
From what I remember the black stuff is almost certainly manganese dioxide mixed with carbon and it looks to be contaminated with zinc, usually the zinc is either present as the casing in zinc-carbon or suspended as particles in a gel in alkaline cells which can be liberated by dissolving the paste in acetone, there's typically a plate bonded onto the top and bottom of the cell and a graphite terminal in zinc-carbon cells or a metallic terminal post in alkaline cells. Try and separate the smaller button cells from the larger alkaline zinc-carbon as some are silver-air cells but more and more lithium chemistry button cells are being sold which is worth keeping in mind.
Interesting. I knew there was a lot of carbon and manganese and some potassium. There is also sodium hydroxide. My need was for, manganese potassium, and iron in that order, but the sodium was a problem since this was to be used in horticulture for which I had no source for manganese, and potassium became unavailable two years ago. Then the manufacturers stated a problem with mercury. How much mercury is in alkaline dry cells? Is there a simple way to separate manganese and iron and flush the sodium and potassium. I would prefer to use acetic acid, 9% or 30%, if possible to make this separation because of availability and cost.
@@junkman8742 yes, and doing it outdoors is literally poisoning the town. zinc, cadmium, and all kinds of heavy metals and chemicals. Dust in the wind is going to cover everything down wind.
@@larrytischler570 It's been a long time since I've done anything with the contents of alkaline cells, but I believe manganese dioxide is essentially insoluble in water and resistant to dilute acids whereas those sodium and potassium hydroxides in the electrolytes and other salts would readily dissolve which allows you to filter the solids from the solution, the other content in the solid left after filtering may be treated with acids as long as they're not too aggressive or concentrated to attack and dissolve metals like zinc whereupon the dissolved metal content can be dissolved, you may have some difficulty removing the carbon but if it's for horticulture I doubt it'd an enormous problem. As for the mercury it shouldn't be present in any serious quantity in alkaline cells other than button cells, there may be significant quantities of nickel present though even if it's a it's under 1% quantity by volume
Hi Jason, Really glad to see that companies are at least trying to recycle the batteries! Hope your customer is super happy with the results! Thumbs up! Stay warm! Jim
Jason, I don't know if I ever wrote about your equipment that you fabricate. These machines really do the job on just about everything that is recyclable. Every time you try something new, I believe that your business should be gaining a ton of popularity. It's incredible what you have created to make anything to reduce its basic properties! The big thing is to look at the labor and time saved! Thanks for all you do! Warmth and blessings from Alabama ❤️
Places around us stopped recycling batteries, like lots of other things cause they can't be f*ked an prefer in landfill. So awesome your machine can break them down an help out the customer. Seen its actually has multiple uses unlike some of the newer batteries which can be dangerous without the right systems
@@junkman8742 Not really, as long as you dont eat it. Manganese can be toxic in large amounts, but the oxide doesnt absorb through skin. Potassium hydroxide isnt toxic, just caustic. Zinc is the only threat and it isnt much of one.
@@junkman8742 Rechargeable lithium would have caused a fire. They looked like regular disposables, you'd have to ask him though. NiCd and NiMH are hazardous waste so I doubt hed have used them.
Note the potassium hydroxide will pick up enough moisture from the air that it'll react with carbon dioxide, forming potassium carbonate. The hydroxide is quite caustic and there's probably plenty of it in the un-damaged cells, but once it's exposed to air such as through leakage it'll form the characteristic efflorescence usually seen first on the anode of old alkaline cells. From batteries chipped up like this, it probably reacts with carbon dioxide in the air within hours or days, although it probably doesn't react *completely* for some time so the pH is probably quite high until it does.
Battery disposal is always a bit sketchy for me. The regulations and where you can drop them off seem to change with the season around here. These days I send them off with my son for disposal in a bin at his workplace that supposedly gets processed in a recycling facility. For all I know it ends up dumped off a barge into the ocean.
They actually have to get sorted by type by the facilities. There are many battery chemistries that are not compatible with each other or extremely toxic.
Jason, Just a quick question for you. Why don't you continue to mine the underground mine? The weather would not affect any work underground and you would be able to stockpile material for processing in the spring? I realize getting to the mine would be tough (do not have any knowledge on conditions in mountains) but what would the old-timers have done? Thanks
I'm not him, but in the first video he was saying that July was the earliest in the year that he could get up there. There was still snow on the road. I think it must be WAY up in the mountains. But also, it will take time to process all the ore they removed. The old-timers I guess would have gone up on mules and lived at the mine.
I kind of thought the same thing. Working underground (I would not think) during the winter months would not have to stop along with continue to build up the supply of ore to process in the spring. It would get mighty lonely though!
@@MortRotu all alkaline batteries before the mid 90s had some mercury in them. I specifically remember as a kid when they made a big deal about new "green" batteries that are mercury free. Very likely people hoarded the old ones on their junk drawer for decades so you have to just assume they could have mercury in them
There is a significant amount of manganese oxide in those bateries. I wonder if you would be able to recover some manganese metal. Side question: I will be doing some cupelation with bismuth as colector metal in near future. At what temperature do you cupelate your samples?
I think there are brass anode rods inside of them. Looks like some of them may still have been stuck onto your ferrous stuff. Might want to rethink your process.
I don’t know if they filter out the scrap they send you, but you'll potentially have to watch out that there aren’t Ni or Cd containing battery chemistries. I think Pb chemistries for consumer electronics batteries are gone, though I'll stan to be corrected on that.
Well if nothing else, there will be zinc, manganese and steel... Also some carbon... Maybe, depending on what other types of batteries, could be nickel, cadmium, cobalt, phosphorous, lithium, copper or aluminum as well.
@@cosmefulanito5933 Are you genuinely that ignorant, or just that much of a troll as to lie about something so proven as the fact that all small cells are made with a steel housing?
Cool vid as always. Thanks Jason. As mentioned in other comments, Potassium Hydroxide used in battery electrolite can be corrosive to machinery. Adding a neutralizer to crushing process may be a wise consideration. A weak acid such as Acetic Acid or Citric seems common. Probably worth a quick consult with a chemist.
You really should know what's in your materials BEFORE you crush it. But if safety in not your top priority, that's ok. How do you deal with lithium ion batteries getting accidentally mixed in? A partially charged Li ion could burst into flames and set your rubber belt on fire. Have you had this happen yet?
The "wire" is a brass nail thats the current collector for the anode. It is welded to a steel end plate which is why it got carried with the magnetics.
Hmm, afaik these are best recycled with a small blast furnace. Company in Germany just melts them down. Carbon and Plastic are fuel, manganese oxide and iron become good metallurgical iron/steel and any zinc distills off as vapor - which is - coincidentally - how zinc is refined anways and how the zinc from galvanised scrap is recovered in well equipped steel mills. Simple as that. What we really need as a society is better ways of recycling lithium batteries, they contain substances which are a) much more valuable b) more toxic and c) not processable via a single melt because nobody wants a aluminum, copper, cobalt nickel alloy :P
Yeah the larger 6 volt lantern batteries have four 1.5 volt cells inside them, it's what I think the braided copper wire you can see in the metallic parts later in the video is from. I believe the cells inside a 9 volt battery are colloquially known as "AAAA" cells from what I remember, but yes there's usually six short, narrow cylindrical 1.5 volt cells in two rows of three in a 9 volt battery in two rows of three held within a steel casing.
That "Malcom in the Middle" episode where they rent a wood chipper and start throwing all kinds of shit into it? Yeah. The hammer mill is that in real life.
Batteries contain corrosive material, to my understanding. Where did that corrosive material go after shredding?? Ps. I am watching all your videos multiple times, not in a row, lol....?
Quite the opposite- the manganese dioxide and metal content has a small but non-zero recycling value that while not terribly valuable in small volumes, can potentially add up to a significant sum if recycled in the tens or hundreds of kilos
As with most things in recycling, volume is the name of the game. 10 or 20kg mightn't be worth while but 200-300kg if you've already got the kit will be.
seems like the "steel" part has allot of copper in it, is there any way to separate that? from what i can see, it seems like there are alkaline and regular batteries in that batch, i think you can salvage zinc from those too...
Jason should start a new channel entitled Crushin' Stuff. I'd be among the first subscribers. My Y chromosome would compel me to watch for hours on end.
I'm pretty sure this isn't good to do because if that black stuff gets in your mouth or eyes it can cause a serious burn. And trust me, if there was value in scrapping these batteries, companies would be doing it.
That bug lantern battery has graphite rods in it - those have uses if you pull em out whole. They make good electrodes for electrolysis. I remeber in high school, my chemistry teacher had graphite in his setup for making hydrogen (and oxygen) from water 😁
And now to try it with LITHIUM batteries! *one titanic explosion later* Can someone help me find my legs... and arms... and internal organs? X_______________x
Alkaline batteries have KOH inside which is usable. However watch out handling the MnO2. It is a cumulative neurotoxin. The carbon can be converted into Graphene. Also steel and zinc.
I am wondering if any silver is in the mix. I am getting tired of giving these away to the recycler. Everyone needs to pay for metal. No more free metals!
I wish you would make a mini setup for sampling or hobbyists. Like a tiny turn key toy setup. How cool would that be? Mini hammer mill, mini conveyuers and shaker table too.
I agree, having my own mini hammer mill would be so cool!
From what I remember the black stuff is almost certainly manganese dioxide mixed with carbon and it looks to be contaminated with zinc, usually the zinc is either present as the casing in zinc-carbon or suspended as particles in a gel in alkaline cells which can be liberated by dissolving the paste in acetone, there's typically a plate bonded onto the top and bottom of the cell and a graphite terminal in zinc-carbon cells or a metallic terminal post in alkaline cells.
Try and separate the smaller button cells from the larger alkaline zinc-carbon as some are silver-air cells but more and more lithium chemistry button cells are being sold which is worth keeping in mind.
Interesting. I knew there was a lot of carbon and manganese and some potassium. There is also sodium hydroxide. My need was for, manganese potassium, and iron in that order, but the sodium was a problem since this was to be used in horticulture for which I had no source for manganese, and potassium became unavailable two years ago. Then the manufacturers stated a problem with mercury. How much mercury is in alkaline dry cells? Is there a simple way to separate manganese and iron and flush the sodium and potassium. I would prefer to use acetic acid, 9% or 30%, if possible to make this separation because of availability and cost.
No Mercury used in over 3 decades.
@@junkman8742 yes, and doing it outdoors is literally poisoning the town. zinc, cadmium, and all kinds of heavy metals and chemicals. Dust in the wind is going to cover everything down wind.
@@larrytischler570 It's been a long time since I've done anything with the contents of alkaline cells, but I believe manganese dioxide is essentially insoluble in water and resistant to dilute acids whereas those sodium and potassium hydroxides in the electrolytes and other salts would readily dissolve which allows you to filter the solids from the solution, the other content in the solid left after filtering may be treated with acids as long as they're not too aggressive or concentrated to attack and dissolve metals like zinc whereupon the dissolved metal content can be dissolved, you may have some difficulty removing the carbon but if it's for horticulture I doubt it'd an enormous problem.
As for the mercury it shouldn't be present in any serious quantity in alkaline cells other than button cells, there may be significant quantities of nickel present though even if it's a it's under 1% quantity by volume
Hi Jason, Really glad to see that companies are at least trying to recycle the batteries! Hope your customer is super happy with the results! Thumbs up! Stay warm! Jim
Jason, I don't know if I ever wrote about your equipment that you fabricate. These machines really do the job on just about everything that is recyclable. Every time you try something new, I believe that your business should be gaining a ton of popularity. It's incredible what you have created to make anything to reduce its basic properties! The big thing is to look at the labor and time saved! Thanks for all you do! Warmth and blessings from Alabama ❤️
Thanks Jason for bring us along! When do you expect to be able to get back into your gold mine this spring?
Interesting context this episode Jason.
Thanks and Best Wishes.
Places around us stopped recycling batteries, like lots of other things cause they can't be f*ked an prefer in landfill.
So awesome your machine can break them down an help out the customer. Seen its actually has multiple uses unlike some of the newer batteries which can be dangerous without the right systems
in Canada they grind them up like this and spread the result (minus the steel) on the corn fields for fertilizer.
Sure it isn't carbon zinc?
There is no steel in any battery.
@@cosmefulanito5933he literally just showed it to me
@@cosmefulanito5933the video says otherwise
@@cosmefulanito5933 there is lots of steel in all batteries fyi.
The black mass is mostly carbon, manganese dioxide, and zinc compounds. It also contains potassium hydroxide, so it is corrosive.
@@junkman8742 Not really, as long as you dont eat it. Manganese can be toxic in large amounts, but the oxide doesnt absorb through skin. Potassium hydroxide isnt toxic, just caustic. Zinc is the only threat and it isnt much of one.
@@junkman8742 Rechargeable lithium would have caused a fire. They looked like regular disposables, you'd have to ask him though. NiCd and NiMH are hazardous waste so I doubt hed have used them.
Note the potassium hydroxide will pick up enough moisture from the air that it'll react with carbon dioxide, forming potassium carbonate. The hydroxide is quite caustic and there's probably plenty of it in the un-damaged cells, but once it's exposed to air such as through leakage it'll form the characteristic efflorescence usually seen first on the anode of old alkaline cells. From batteries chipped up like this, it probably reacts with carbon dioxide in the air within hours or days, although it probably doesn't react *completely* for some time so the pH is probably quite high until it does.
Sounds like a flux recipe
@@dantoppa1265 Manganese dioxide is commonly used on stick welding rods as a flux, so yeah, kind of.
So much for that bunny that keeps on going! Lol! Keep it happening Jason....💪⚖️👍⚒️🤠
Cool invention! So many purposes!!
I don't normally watch short videos like this. But I'll make an exception since you don't do them often.
Battery disposal is always a bit sketchy for me. The regulations and where you can drop them off seem to change with the season around here. These days I send them off with my son for disposal in a bin at his workplace that supposedly gets processed in a recycling facility. For all I know it ends up dumped off a barge into the ocean.
They actually have to get sorted by type by the facilities. There are many battery chemistries that are not compatible with each other or extremely toxic.
Just be sure you don't send any lithium batteries through the hammer mill!
he will need crazyshit or kaotic account to upload such video... 🤣
Or Ni-Cad
It could make for a very interesting video though. Especially if you add water.
@@hopebear06with the amount it seems to rain at mbmmllc I don't think any more water needs adding...
If they are discharged, nothing really will happen.
😁👋👍👍👏👏💕🙏🏻
Thank you Jason. I get curious about such things at times.
Great information. Thanks
Cool 👍Many the uses.
Jason, Just a quick question for you. Why don't you continue to mine the underground mine? The weather would not affect any work underground and you would be able to stockpile material for processing in the spring? I realize getting to the mine would be tough (do not have any knowledge on conditions in mountains) but what would the old-timers have done? Thanks
I'm not him, but in the first video he was saying that July was the earliest in the year that he could get up there. There was still snow on the road. I think it must be WAY up in the mountains.
But also, it will take time to process all the ore they removed.
The old-timers I guess would have gone up on mules and lived at the mine.
I kind of thought the same thing. Working underground (I would not think) during the winter months would not have to stop along with continue to build up the supply of ore to process in the spring. It would get mighty lonely though!
Gloves and raspirators when working with this stuff.
And don't forget the potential for mercury
@@thedopplereffect00how many standard-sized batteries can you think of that have murcury in?
@@MortRotu all alkaline batteries before the mid 90s had some mercury in them. I specifically remember as a kid when they made a big deal about new "green" batteries that are mercury free. Very likely people hoarded the old ones on their junk drawer for decades so you have to just assume they could have mercury in them
There is a significant amount of manganese oxide in those bateries. I wonder if you would be able to recover some manganese metal.
Side question: I will be doing some cupelation with bismuth as colector metal in near future. At what temperature do you cupelate your samples?
If you need some labor for the mine next year...let me know.
😊
Great video!
I think there are brass anode rods inside of them. Looks like some of them may still have been stuck onto your ferrous stuff. Might want to rethink your process.
Great business idea!!!
The manganese dioxide is a messy material that will stain your hand tool's such as pliers so they won't clean up afterwards.
Well done sir I do believe that you're machine is outstanding thanks for sharing this six stars brother
So if I've got a bunch of old batteries, where do I bring them?
is zinc and lithium magnetic? thats what needs to be recovered more than steel
Sure this is a dumb question. What value is there to the stuff in the battery?
Manganese, copper, zinc, iron, nickel... And if you're a special kind of pyromaniac, lithium...
I don’t know if they filter out the scrap they send you, but you'll potentially have to watch out that there aren’t Ni or Cd containing battery chemistries. I think Pb chemistries for consumer electronics batteries are gone, though I'll stan to be corrected on that.
How would copper be separated from the other metals? Electrolysis?
Hey Jason would love to know what the black stuff came back as containing if you ever find out?
Manganese dioxide
Fantastic stuff
What happened to the battery acid?
AWESOME!
What about the battery acids?
Wash all equipment thoroughly afterwards so as to not corrode parts
The black powder is Manganize oxide
Well if nothing else, there will be zinc, manganese and steel...
Also some carbon...
Maybe, depending on what other types of batteries, could be nickel, cadmium, cobalt, phosphorous, lithium, copper or aluminum as well.
There is no steel in any battery.
@@cosmefulanito5933 Are you genuinely that ignorant, or just that much of a troll as to lie about something so proven as the fact that all small cells are made with a steel housing?
Yup mostly manganese dioxide mixed with carbon rods all crushed. Unless you got some rechargeable batteries mixed in. Nickel cadmium.
Cool vid as always. Thanks Jason.
As mentioned in other comments, Potassium Hydroxide used in battery electrolite can be corrosive to machinery.
Adding a neutralizer to crushing process may be a wise consideration.
A weak acid such as Acetic Acid or Citric seems common. Probably worth a quick consult with a chemist.
this type of batteries usually contain mostly carbon/graphite rod and manganese dioxide paste, so not very much precious metals.
Good jason...salam dari Indonesia
Jason, you are part of a new wave of advertising. Who needs adds when your whole video is just an add for your product?
Is that the smallest machine available
You really should know what's in your materials BEFORE you crush it. But if safety in not your top priority, that's ok. How do you deal with lithium ion batteries getting accidentally mixed in? A partially charged Li ion could burst into flames and set your rubber belt on fire. Have you had this happen yet?
Doubtful, else he'd have checked for lithiums first..
This was a sample sent in by a customer. I highly doubt Jason will ever crush batteries again.
I kind of expected a explosion . Glad it didnt .
The "wire" is a brass nail thats the current collector for the anode. It is welded to a steel end plate which is why it got carried with the magnetics.
There is no steel in any battery. Nor brass either.
Hmm, afaik these are best recycled with a small blast furnace. Company in Germany just melts them down. Carbon and Plastic are fuel, manganese oxide and iron become good metallurgical iron/steel and any zinc distills off as vapor - which is - coincidentally - how zinc is refined anways and how the zinc from galvanised scrap is recovered in well equipped steel mills. Simple as that. What we really need as a society is better ways of recycling lithium batteries, they contain substances which are a) much more valuable b) more toxic and c) not processable via a single melt because nobody wants a aluminum, copper, cobalt nickel alloy :P
Aren’t there 4 D cells inside the large 6 volt batteries?
Same as there’s 6 AAA batteries in a nine volt?
All will be pulverized the same way.
Yeah the larger 6 volt lantern batteries have four 1.5 volt cells inside them, it's what I think the braided copper wire you can see in the metallic parts later in the video is from. I believe the cells inside a 9 volt battery are colloquially known as "AAAA" cells from what I remember, but yes there's usually six short, narrow cylindrical 1.5 volt cells in two rows of three in a 9 volt battery in two rows of three held within a steel casing.
Some, yes.
For the 9v, most have flat cells contained in plastic. Only a few high end ones still use AAAA's (not AAA).
Don't I see copper wire in the steel? Can't you provide another step that separates the more valuable copper from the steel?
Yes!
Hello brother...
I'm from Indonesian, Im processing precious metals from natural resources (stone, soil, sand, mud etc.)
That "Malcom in the Middle" episode where they rent a wood chipper and start throwing all kinds of shit into it? Yeah. The hammer mill is that in real life.
And the silver is in the batteries, it's there..???
Thank you
inside the lantern battery is aaa batteries
And on the next episode… we crush live ammunition.
There was an episode where Jason crushed used cartridges. Not all of them had fully discharged...
Czemu nie ma polskich napisów?
Batteries contain corrosive material, to my understanding. Where did that corrosive material go after shredding?? Ps. I am watching all your videos multiple times, not in a row, lol....?
As long as cerro grodo isnt on here we will watch
Why???😊
Had to check it wasn't the first of April
That's a bizarre thing to recycle as there are no valuable materials in alkaline batteries.
Quite the opposite- the manganese dioxide and metal content has a small but non-zero recycling value that while not terribly valuable in small volumes, can potentially add up to a significant sum if recycled in the tens or hundreds of kilos
As with most things in recycling, volume is the name of the game. 10 or 20kg mightn't be worth while but 200-300kg if you've already got the kit will be.
keep up the good work.... BUT NOW watch for rusting like salt water would....
Thank you, now take a coffee break.
Add hydrogen peroxide to the nonferrous material, stand back and light a match.. .
It will make pure oxygen..
Jason, I am the first one...Love your channel
👍👍👍
There is no steel in any battery.
Try it with lipo's
I have about 2 lb of hearing aid batteries, so am looking at mashing those soon. Great vid!
Careful, older hearing aide batteries had mercury in them
Need to redo this with 100% li-ion batts lol. Would pay for a pTreon of that lol.
seems like the "steel" part has allot of copper in it, is there any way to separate that? from what i can see, it seems like there are alkaline and regular batteries in that batch, i think you can salvage zinc from those too...
The steel is going to recycling anyway. The recycle center can sort out the metals much more efficiently than we.
Jason,
Great job od recycling something that is really a nuisance to get dispose of legally!
Cheers,
Rik Spector
I bet you spent more on electricity to grind that stuff up than you got selling the product 😕
Many older alkaline batteries contained mercury. This seems like a terrible idea
And how many of those are kicking around now?
@@MortRotu it's hard to say. Lots of people hoard things for decades.
Wash the steel pieces. They are covered in whatever is considered valuable.
Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda,
NaOH
There's no NaOH in alkaline batteries, only KOH.
Specific Gravity Madman
Jason should start a new channel entitled Crushin' Stuff. I'd be among the first subscribers. My Y chromosome would compel me to watch for hours on end.
👍
I'm pretty sure this isn't good to do because if that black stuff gets in your mouth or eyes it can cause a serious burn. And trust me, if there was value in scrapping these batteries, companies would be doing it.
Just curious see what they got out of that pile of dead batteries? I have a bucket 3x as big as what you showed.
I hope you made sure those were all discharged before they went in the hammer mill
🎸🎸
Ok. Little help in education here?
Why would one wish, from Batteries, to harvest steel??!!
That bug lantern battery has graphite rods in it - those have uses if you pull em out whole. They make good electrodes for electrolysis. I remeber in high school, my chemistry teacher had graphite in his setup for making hydrogen (and oxygen) from water 😁
Maybe now we won't have to pay to recycle standard batteries when we try to be responsible.
Good
Pour some hydrogen peroxide on the black powder.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it
There carbon rods
The real problem is not how to recycle, its getting humans to actually stop throwing resources in thr garbage
Hey support
Our smelter is chucking in used batteries like those now, getting all the goodies out of it, not lithiums of course.
And now to try it with LITHIUM batteries! *one titanic explosion later* Can someone help me find my legs... and arms... and internal organs? X_______________x
Alkaline batteries have KOH inside which is usable. However watch out handling the MnO2. It is a cumulative neurotoxin. The carbon can be converted into Graphene. Also steel and zinc.
Doug funny
I swear I heard this was illegal.
I am wondering if any silver is in the mix. I am getting tired of giving these away to the recycler. Everyone needs to pay for metal. No more free metals!