The use of shredders during the recycling of battery-containing devices typically entails the labor-intensive manual removal and taping of batteries prior to processing. This time-consuming step is eliminated with the advent of a new battery-in-device-shredder system, model 23 (BIDS23), engineered by Gloyd Recycling Solutions and Archimedes Industry Advisory and Investments.

The system shreds battery-containing devices and sorts materials into plastics, metal and black mass fractions. The BIDS23 technology is intended to allow facilities to avoid the labor needed to remove batteries and tape terminals and to reduce fire risk associated with storing and shipping batteries. The plug and play system, which includes a wet shredder and an emissions scrubber, safely shreds batteries, removes any hazardous gases emitted and recovers the commodities of interest.

The design is tailored to process the multitude of small-battery-containing consumer devices in the end-of-life stream. In addition to computers and mobile phones, that stream includes earbuds, e-cigarettes, toys and other small electronic items. The BIDS23 system is geared for relatively low volumes of up to 1 ton per hour (depending on the feed streams) and deploys a density-modified water tank to sort the shredded output. Plastics and other light materials float, the metals sink and the shredded batteries, or black mass, become a slurry suspended in the water. The water is recirculated after all three fractions are recovered.