Characterisation of graphite powder processed from waste dry cell batteries

The incessant nature of electrical power supplies in a developing country like Nigeria, the dependence on dry cell batteries for varying domestic applications such as transistor radios, torchlights, remote controls, amongst others continues to rise unabated. Improper disposal of these batteries poses serious adverse effect on the environment and human health. In this study, over 1000 dry cell batteries were collected from different locations in Ede, Osun State sorted and sectioned to harvest the carbon rods which is a key component of the battery cell. The rods were pulverized for about 15 hours and screened into different particle sizes using standard sieves. The microstructural characterization was investigated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Displacer Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), and Ultraviolet (UV) Spectroscopy. High yield graphite powders (98%) were obtained from the processing. Absorption peak was observed at 272.5 nm by UV spectroscopy while XRD plots yielded a narrow peak of 26.60. The characterization results show good agreement with those available in literature.