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Battery system
spill management planning addresses multiple legitimate concerns. These
concerns include short and long term "stakeholder"
safety, health, and environmental issues. Stakeholders, for the purposes
of this writing, include:
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Owner/Operators.
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Employees, customers, and other occupants
who depend upon the availablity and safety of the battery systems.
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Building and Fire Codes as adopted as
law.
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Employee safety and health as applicable
through government agencies including OSHA and EPA (EPAaddresses
emergency responders not covered by OSHA).
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Fire, police, emergency management, and
other authorities having jurisdiction.
For the
owner/operator to address its requirements as well as meet the
requirements of the stakeholders that have the right to impact the
owner/operator, a spill management plan is a natural outcome of addressing
battery systems hazards. Basic requirements include:
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An intended control area that will
contain a battery electrolyte spill.
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Planned spill containment area will not
be part of an aisle, egress area, or area where an emergency responder
would be per the emergency response plan.
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A barrier system that will ensure
containment under physical stress.
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A barrier system that will ensure
containment under chemical stress including increased battery
concentrations over the inspection period plan that may have intervals
of over six months.
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A means of passively reducing the risk of
the battery electrolyte through absorption and neutralization.
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A cleanup procedure that is consistent
with the safety, health, and environmental provisions of items 1 and 2
above.
There are
vendors who offer relatively inexpensive solutions/kits that address the
criteria above. There are solutions already in industry that appear to
offer protection, but are, in our opinion, significantly flawed to the
point they should be corrected immediately.
An example of a
spill management system that does not meet today’s requirements is what I
have heard referred to as the "Marble Chip System." I have seen a few of
these systems and will describe what I saw and was told.
Basically the
battery system is:
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Batteries on a battery rack.
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Battery rack system placed in four (4)
inch deep cement pit.
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Pit is filled with marble chips.
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Under marble chips is drain that may be
connected to:
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Nalgene® acid neutralization tank with
its output connected to the sanitary sewer, stone drain into ground, or
storm sewer.
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Sanitary sewer or directly into ground or
storm sewer.
The intent is
for a battery electrolyte acid spill to be:
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Contained in the cement pit
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Neutralized by the marble chips
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Neutralized battery electrolyte to be
conducted to a sewer line or directly into the ground.
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Addressing these three main categories,
we see the following concerns:
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Contained in the cement pit:
The cement pits
we have seen and heard of are not coated with any coating impervious to
sulfuric acid. The pits we saw appeared not to have any coating at all.
Cement is a good neutralizer of sulfuric acid. The problem is the cement
loses its desired characteristics, being reduced to crumbling "sand."
Cement generally
has many cracks thereby allowing sulfuric acid to possibly flow through to
the floor below or into the ground.
Cement floors
have structural steel associated with them. Sulfuric acid on exposed steel
may impact the structural integrity of the building. We are aware of a
building that, after a fire, they were required to jackhammer out the
cement under the battery spill to ensure building steel integrity. We
understand the steel was affected by leaking sulfuric acid and had to be
replaced.
Neutralized by
the marble chips: Marble chips do NOT work! Although the chemical
equation predicts sulfuric acid should be neutralized by marble, in
reality all that really happens is the marble chip surface reacts with the
sulfuric acid, forms a "protective film," and then, for all intent, ceases
its neutralization activity.
Neutralized
battery electrolyte to be conducted to a sewer line or directly into the
ground.
Our concern for
drains starts with the drain and piping itself. Sulfuric acid reacts with
metals and other materials typically resulting in the liberation of
hydrogen gas. The exothermic reaction generates enough heat to self-ignite
the hydrogen. Now we have an explosion in the drain system including a
possible tank.
Without the
testing of the discharged "neutralized" sulfuric acid, we really do not
know what we are putting into the environment or under the building.
Neutralization
of the acid did nothing for the dissolved and particulate lead contained
in the battery electrolyte. The downside risk far exceeds the upside gain
of disposing of the "problem" down the drain.
When considering
a spill management system in the context of a spill management plan, look
for a system that:
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Contains the spill within an area that
does not jeopardize access to and egress from the battery plant.
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Contains and controls the spill
consistent with the rest of the spill management plan including
inspection frequency. I recommend spill inspection to coincide with
battery inspection/maintenance which may be every six months, depending
on the application.
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Passively reduces the associated risks
through the use of absorption and neutralization mats.
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