Asian Battery Conference - 2013

September 10 to 13, 2013

15th ABC, Singapore

Ready for the charge Lead acid poised for next Asian challenge

Full conference listing of exhibitors, booths

Inside track view on main themes of the event

!

IS DE Techno-wizardry, new Life outside the meetings: IN E E battery alchemies await Singapore's other side T: S N U CO S I ND O I IPT Bringing the industry stry together R C www.batteriesinternational.com rnational.com BS U LS A I EC SP

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EDITORIAL

Environmental issues to set the agenda for Asian battery industry Pollution has a price tag. And that price — as one of the major themes that the 15th Asian Battery Conference will explore — comes in various shapes and forms.

It was the price you willingly paid to put yourself on the economic map. In China’s case to create a middle class of half a billion people in a bare couple of decades.

Air pollution in northern China is, according to a recent study, shortening the average life of its citizens by five years. According to another study, this time by the Chinese, the annual cost of environmental degradation was $230 billion in 2010. Not cheap.

This new middle class has a political clout totally different from its agrarian roots. People aspire to the standards, values and health of the west.

But another price tag is the competitive advantage for ignoring the environment altogether.

While European and North American firms have steadily cleaned up their acts, they’ve also paid a price tag. For them the present low levels of lead in the blood of their workers could easily add another $10 to the cost of making their automotive batteries.

For a long time Asia as a whole — and China in particular — paid scant attention to the environment in their mad dash for growth. It made little sense to be ecologically diligent when you are creating industrialized economies from scratch.

So at a certain point the economics of disregarding the environment no longer make sense politically.

Or economically too. Recent studies show that one can take around four percentage points off China’s gross domestic product figure as the price the country pays — from the massive strains on health care, to the tens of millions of days of work lost, to providing clean drinking water and much more — for this explosive growth.

All this means is that Asia’s energy storage industry is having to face up to tremendous challenges in the way that it does business. Importantly, every indication is that the environment has steadily moved up regional governments’ agenda in terms of its importance.

In China’s case, the crack-down on battery manufacturers two years ago, was just the first shot across the bows in an engagement that, in the end, only the government can win. Tighter legislation is being drawn up, a rethink of how resources will be used is resulting in a dramatic shift to renewables.

The country could be self-sufficient in electricity by 2030 just from wind generation, or some studies say.

Within a generation Asia has become the most important battery manufacturing region in the world, the challenge is to maintain that lead as well as maintain the clean up.

Mike Halls Editor

www.batteriesinternational.com

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 1

CONTENTS LEAD ACID — UNSTOPPABLE, THE INDUSTRY MARCHES ON The 15th Asian Battery Conference in Singapore between September 10-13 — and the preceding 3rd International Secondary Lead Conference on September 9-10 —could well be the most popular lead events in Asia this side of the new millennium.

In our special pre-conference guide we look at the editorial agenda and interview many of the luminaries that will be presenting or chairing the sessions.

EDITORIAL

1

Environmental issues to set the agenda for Asian battery industry

SINGAPORE

4

Where to go in the Lion City

VIEW FROM THE CHAIR ... AND THE SPONSORS

7

OVERVIEW

14

Driving global growth figures Asia is increasingly driving lead pricing Exponential growth forecast for India

SECONDARY LEAD

20

The upcoming revolution: disbelieve it at your peril

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

16

Where high fliers in Singapore perch between presentations 4

Accelerating the pace of development Ultrabattery comes to the rescue of renewables A is for additives, B is for battery Stop-start technology is go-go-go

EXHIBITORS: WHO’S WHERE

18

BATTERY HEROES

34, 44 New lexicography for advanced lead acid batteries 33

Jun Furukawa and L Pugazhenthy

REGULATORY

38

Breathe deep and tell us you feel better!

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

40

Legacy issues — dealing with past malpractice

EXHIBITION GUIDE, 28-32 Our comprehensive listing of exhibitors in the main hall includes a full run down of sponsors of this preconference guide and an alphabetical and numerical list of which firm can be found —and where!

More osculatory than regulatory but both have their part to play 38

Publisher: Karen Hampton, karen@batteriesinternational.com, +44 (0) 7792 852337 Editor: Michael Halls, mhalls@batteriesinternational.com, +44 (0) 7977 016 918 Supplements editor: Wyn Jenkins, wyn.Jenkins@serenglobalmedia. com, +44 (0) 792 293 222 Business development manager June Moultrie june@batteriesinternational.com +44 (0) 7775 710 290

Reception: +44 (0) 1787 729 320 fax: +44 1787 729 330 Subscriptions and admin manager: Claire Ronnie, subscriptions@batteriesinternational. com admin@batteriesinternational.com +44 (0) 1787 729 320 Research editor William Aslan will@batteriesinternational.com

2 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

Staff reporters: Philip Moorcroft, William Aslan Production/design: Antony Parselle, aparselledesign@me.com +44 (0) 1727 899 360 International advertising representation: advertising@batteriesinternational. com The contents of this publication are protected by copyright. No unauthorised translation or reproduction is permitted.

ISSN 1462-6322 (c) 2013 Mustard Seed Publishing, UK company no: 5976361.

Printed in the UK via ThisismethodUK Disclaimer: Although we believe in the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this magazine, Mustard Seed Publishing makes no warranties or representation about this.

Nor should anything contained within it should be construed as constituting an offer to buy or sell securities, or constitute advice in relation to the buying or selling of investments.

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15th ABC SHOW GUIDE

Where to go in the Lion City W elcome to Singapore— a glittering space where Asian and international wealth and wisdom meet in a spectacular fashion.

The shopping is some of the best in the world, attracting top brands at highly competitive prices.

It’s also a place to eat well. This ranges from fine dining — including the best of Eurasian fusion cooking — There are four official languages: English, as a legacy of its history as a former UK colony but also reflecting its international dimension, as well as Malay, Chinese and Tamil. Roughly three quarters of the population are

of Chinese extraction.

Although Singapore’s towering skyscrapers reflect its modern culture, the earliest settlement on the spot dates back to the second century but the greatest part of its history dates back to the arrival of Thomas Stanford Raffles in 1819 and its sale to the British five years later. Here are three places that we’d recommend.

Reasons to be fearful — part 1 If you suffer even the merest hint of vertigo, this surely the one experience in Singapore that you’ll want to avoid (or failing that wear a blindfold). The Singapore Flyer is a huge Ferris wheel some 42 stories high — roughly half the height of the Empire State Building and the tallest Ferris in the world.

Although Feng shui masters decided in 2008 that the wheel direction should be reversed — clockwise has so much better “vital qi” — the Flyer has had a troubled financial history and although open for business was last heard of as being in receivership.

Where to find it The Singapore Flyer is located near the shore of Singapore’s Marina Bay. 30 Raffles Avenue. Nearest MRT, Promenade

Early birds, worms and tai-chi Jet lagged and don’t know what to do at 5am? Join the earliest of early risers with a visit to Singapore’s Botanic Gardens. The gardens are open from 5am-midnight.

On the main boardwalk it is still possible to wander through swathes of virgin rainforest — some six hectares in size which predate the creation of the park in 1859.

Other fun is to identify some of the huge trees, the Terminalia Subspathulata is close to 50 metres high, or enjoy the delights of local joggers ruining the start of the day in style.

4 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

Don’t forget to look in at the National Orchid Garden — entrance fee S$5 but open 8.30am to 7.00pm — which boasts 1,000 different types of orchid.

The entire 74 hectare park is 2.6 kilometres at its longest.

Where to find it 1 Cluny Road, MRT station Botanic Gardens is the main entrance to the park.

Shop till you drop Two of the hottest spots for shopping — Funan Digitalife Mall and Sim Lim Square — are the places to go for possibly the widest range of electronic products in the world. These two massive multi-storey emporia offer the most bewildering range of handwww.batteriesinternational.com

15th ABC SHOW GUIDE DE E

DON’T BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW! Advice to all visitors to Singapore? Leave your chewing gum at hhome. ome. om e.

The import, sale and manufacture of chewing gum has been aagainst gaainnst s tthe hee law since 1992.

Although a single packet may squeeze through — presumably abl b y fo ffor orr consenting adults to chew in private — bringing in more willl lland a d yo an you ou in in ttrouble. rooub uble le.. le There was even a time in the early 1990s when chewing gum m sm smuggling mug u gl g inng wa w wass bi bigg business for what the Singapore government called “delinquents” Malaysia. nts ts”” from from mM alay al a si ay siaa Don’t worry if you need nicotine gum, however. That’s perfectly legal but remember to take some ID to the pharmacy!

Singapore laws — and remember the city-state is a democracy — can certainly be quirky. But oddly enough they make a kind of sense in the end. Clearing up chewing gum from the underground, where it was clogging up train doors, was costing tens of millions of dollars.

Face painting, even for children, is forbidden as is wearing “any form of disguise”.

Don’t even think about bungee jumping (illegal) as is walking around naked in your own home (pornographic).

And don’t forget! Failure to flush a public toilet can result in hefty fines. True! cams, portable DVD players, mobile phones, hi-tech cameras, MP3 players and laptops in just about every imaginable configuration.

The prices are usually about 10% to 20% cheaper than at other commercial outlets.

Remember to bargain though!

At Sim Lim Square especially, good deals can be had with some serious haggling, and many retailers will knock off a few extra dollars if you pay in cash.

Where to find it Funan Digitalife Mall: 109, North Bridge Road Five minute walk from City Hall MRT Open 10am-10pm Sim Lim Square, 1 Rochor Canal Road Five minute walk from Bugis MRT and Little India MRT Open daily 10.30am-9.00pm

FREE APPS FOR SINGAPORE For iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, the free Singapore app is well worth a look. Billed as the ultimate travel app for tourists visiting the island state this has comprehensive information of over 1,000 things that you can see and do in Singapore. It also provides you with maps, route suggestions, travel fare estimation and quick dial taxi booking!

The app was developed by the Singapore Tourism Board.

There are further free apps for Singapore including those for use of the MRT (underground) and the bus service.

There’s also official iPhones apps for Singapore largestt IITT andd electronic l t i shopping h i mall! It features the latest highlights and promotions from Sim Lim Square and provide a detailed floor maps with of all of the contacts of the shops.

GETTING ROUND THE CITY G S Singapore has an excellent bus a and underground (MRT) service.

T Travel is cheap and frequent. The b best ticket for visitors is probably th the Singapore Tourist Pass — S$10 (U (US$8) a day or S$20 for three d days.

One quirk of the system is that a deposit system operates. You d deposit S$10 for the pass and get th this back when you return it.

The nearest MRT station to the c conference hotel, the Shangri-La, is on Orchard Road. It’s about a 10 m minute walk.

15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 5

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VIEW FROM THE CHAIR

A word from the conference chairman Mark Stevenson, the conference organizer and chairman of the Asian Battery Conference, bids a warm welcome to delegates, exhibitors and speakers at the event.

Attendance is already looking good for the 15th Asian Battery Conference being held in Singapore in September. Mark Stevenson, the organizer says more than 500 delegates have registered with two months to go. “These are very positive numbers and I believe it will be extremely well attended,” he says.

He says 118 booths have already been sold and five are on a waiting list – illustrating the popularity of the event.

“It could be a record for the event in terms of delegates and other things – we will have to see. But it is not about that. It is just enjoyable to put on a conference of this type and see everyone get something out of it.”

Stevenson, otherwise the technical manager for Asia for Ecobat Technologies, the world’s largest producer and recycler of lead says the origins of the origins of the event started in 1987.

This was through an organization called the Zinc and Lead Asian Service, which was a collection of Australian and other Asian-based companies involved in smelting and related industries. Their main objective, he says, was to promote learning and education around the use of lead.

The conference was launched in its current format in 1997. Many things have changes since them, Stevenson says.

“The event back then was very technical,” he says. “It has changed a lot since then. Although there are still many very technical papers, we try to ensure these are mixed in with more commercial themes and networking.

“People want more of a blend from an event such as this. Some papers are very sector specific and highly technical and super scientific – othwww.batteriesinternational.com

ers are not. That works well for us and delegates seem to like it.”

Personal contacts He says that many delegates use the event to improve their knowledge and brush up their skills and understanding in certain sectors. They also use it to maintain and establish personal contact with industry peers and to touch base with suppliers and customers in one event.

He believes one of the reasons this event is proving so popular is because of the quality of speakers and papers already lined up. It is the strongest for a long time, he says, adding that there is also a waiting list of speakers. “People come for the presentations but also to have a yak and do business,” he says.

“Twenty years ago, the event was far more sedate. Now, people enjoy, they have a good time and they also learn and often understand certain things better as a result of some of the presentations. It is particularly satisfying to me when people come and say ‘wow, I learned so much from that presentation. I had forgotten some of the technical detail around something but now I get it again. To be, that is the mark of a good presentation and a good conference.”

In terms of the major themes of the event, he says it is tough to pin down a small number of themes, due to the diversity of presentations. But he also observes a discrepancy between the big issues as observed by companies and individuals based in Europe and the US compared with

what Asian forms see as the issues.

For example, he says that stopstart technology is not as big an issue in Asia as it is in Europe and the US. He says that cultural differences results in Asian-based companies being more pragmatic about such technologies.

“When the technology is ready, manufacturers out here will just fit it in,” he says. “They will just get on with it without all the fluff and gruff you get in the west. All they are interested in is selling cars – if it helps or if they have to introduce it, they just get on with it.”

He says a similar dynamic occurred with the introduction of electric bikes, which have exploded in popularity in some Asian countries.

“It is because they just got on with making the most of the technologies available,” he says. “In the UK there would have been committee after committee over analyzing their usage. Asian countries can be much more fast moving in that sense.” continued on page 10 >

Despite the name of the event and the fact it is always held in Asia, the conference is effectively a world event with executives from many countries attending.

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 7

GROWTH: THE BIG PICTURE Strong growth is forecast globally for the stationary batteries market over the next five years – up by $7 billon between 2013 and 2017. But Asia will be leading the way in this expansion.

Driving global growth figures The global stationary batteries market in 2012 grew by just 1.2% from 2011, to $6.2 billion. But explosive growth is on its way, according to the Power Supply & Storage Components division of IHS Electronics and Media in a new report called Stationary Batteries – World 2013.

The increase — of some $7 billion — that the report projects from 2013 to 2017 is driven by the need for energy storage from renewable applications and the continued strong demand for telecommunications infrastructure with battery reserve power. The market is forecast to grow to $13.8 billion in 2017.

While growth is predicted in the established market for lead-acid batteries, penetration of lithium-ion and sodium-based batteries is predicted to accelerate over the next five years, with particularly strong adoption in certain applications.

Europe the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) was estimated to account for 25% of global revenues in 2012, while The Americas was estimated to account for 28% and Asia for 47%. This is projected to change slightly in 2017 with EMEA accounting for 24%, The Americas for 26% and Asia for 50%.

“The increase in Asia is largely due to the forecast adoption of batteries for renewable energy storage systems,” the report says.

In the EMEA region, the largest portion of the market was accounted for by western Europe in 2012 with an estimated 72% of the market. Strongest growth is forecast for Middle East and Africa due to the demand for telecommunications infrastructure with reserve power and strong demand for installations of renewable energy systems with battery storage systems towards the end of the forecast, suggests the report.

The largest proportion of The Americas market in 2012 was accounted for

by North America and Canada with 73% of the market. This is predicted to increase to 74% in 2017. Growth in all three regions of the Americas presented is forecast to be accelerated by adoption of renewable energy systems with battery storage.

Japan is identified as the dominant region of the Asian market, accounting for 61.1% of revenues in 2012. This is projected to increase to 62.2% in 2017.

The Japanese market is largely served by manufacturers based in Japan.

Growth in India is predicted to be

strong throughout the forecast as investments in telecommunication infrastructure and renewable energy systems accelerates. Meanwhile, China will also deliver strong growth, the report says (see graphs). continued on page 10 >

“The increase in Asia is largely due to the forecast adoption of batteries for renewable energy storage systems” Predicted growth in the world market for stationary batteries by region Revenues $m

— EMEA — Americas — Asia

8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Source: IHS

Predicted growth in the Asia market for stationary batteries by major region Revenues $m

— Japan — China — India — Other Asia

5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000

8 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

0 2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Source: IHS

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GROWTH: THE BIG PICTURE > continued from page 7 The report covers all types of stationary batteries. In 2012, lead-acid batteries (flooded and VRLA combined) accounted for an estimated 89% of the market. This is projected to change dramatically over the next five years as lithium-ion and sodiumbased technology is adopted. The share of lead-acid in the stationary battery market is projected to decline to 64% in 2017.

In 2012, the application accounting for the largest proportion of the market was telecommunications with 38%. UPS was estimated to account for 22% of the market and energy and infrastructure for 21%.

Explosive growth is forecast for the market for stationary batteries in energy and infrastructure. Its share is predicted to increase to 55% in 2017 owing to projected explosive growth in demand for renewable and energy storage applications. Despite this, the UPS and telecommunications market are also predicted to remain strong throughout the forecast.

NETWORKING AND BIG TALKING POINTS Networking and the exchange of knowledge and ideas are always the two biggest drivers of the Asian Battery Conference and this 15th event will be no different. Organizers promise this event will be a must for those seeking to network with customers, expand knowledge, contacts, stay up to date with new and emerging technologies and

focus on business improvement.

“The main reason I attend events such as this is to make and nurture relationships with clients and industry players,” says Geoffrey May, director of FOCUS Consulting who will give a speech entitled ‘The competitive position of lead-acid batteries for stop and start and micro-hybrid applications.’

VIEW FROM THE CHAIR (continued)

A word from the conference chairman > continued from page 7

Seizing opportunities He also notes that this dynamic means it can be hard for US and European companies to exploit opportunities in Asian markets. “The local companies are usually one step ahead,” he says.

Despite the name of the event and the

fact it is always held in Asia, the conference is effectively a world event with executives from many countries attending. “It just happens to be in Asia,” he says. “Most of the presentations and issues are global in their nature.”

One theme he agrees will be a big talking point and papers covering it well attended, is around the supply and demand of lead in the region

“People want more of a blend from an event such as this. Some papers are very sector specific and highly technical and super scientific – others are not. That works well for us and delegates seem to like it.”

10 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

and how this links into the global dynamic around the price of and availability of lead.

“It will be a big topic of conversation that week,” Stevenson says.

“There are a number of papers covering this issue and I am looking forward to seeing some of those.”

Some of these papers include ‘Status and Outlook of the Lead Market in China’ by Xia Cong, assistant engineer at Antaike; ‘Trends and Issues in the Global Lead Market’ by Neil Hawkes, lead consultant with CRU International; and ‘The Development of Lead Acid Battery in China’ by Dong Li, chairman and chief executive of Leoch Battery Shenzhen Corp.

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A VIEW FROM THE SPONSORS

Lead, lead, glorious lead … there’s nothing quite like it Expectations for another fascinating and useful conference are reflected in the major themes that the conference sponsors expect to see this year in Singapore.

Underpinning the 15th Asian Battery Conference is the commitment of a number of corporate sponsors. These companies use the event to connect with clients old and new and, variously, invest in brand awareness within the international battery community.

John Opie, the managing director of Goonvean Fibres, a company that is one of Europe’s largest technical fibre manufacturers supplying high quality precision fibres, which are used in many types of batteries around the world, is one of the sponsors along with Beijing Rongxintong (stands 12 & 21).

He describes the event as possibly the premiere conference on the lead acid battery calendar. “Quite simply, anyone who is anyone in the battery industry will attend, so it is a great place to network and meet friends old and new, find out about the latest technology, exhibit goods and of course share knowl-

edge with the global battery community,” he says.

Opie believes the main themes of the event will be the price and availability of lead and lead alloys; the latest developments in terms of battery technology; and challenges facing the lead-acid battery community such as environmental issues.

Globalization One of the key challenges that he believes will be discussed at the event is around the expansion of Asian companies into the global market.

“Historically, growth has been localized to service the home market but as demand at home slows Asian suppliers will look to increase their share of international markets,” he says. “Advantages such as lower manufacturing base costs and in some cases government subsidies may give these countries the

“We view the Asian Battery Conference as the single most significant show in the Asian battery calendar.” www.batteriesinternational.com

edge. Import duties/taxes for foreign goods can make entry into the Asian markets difficult.”

But this dynamic has another side and also offers opportunities, he says.

“Companies can also come to Asia, manufacture and supply locally so that your company can compete on a level playing field,” he says. “Many have already done so and many more will follow. Add lower costs to high levels of quality and the advantage will swing back towards the ‘implant’ company or joint venture.”

Kevin Campbell, vice president of international business development at Digatron based in Aachen, Germany, illustrates this point. He explains that his business has strong roots in Asia and sees many opportunities there for future development and growth.

“This year, Digatron celebrates 20 successful years since setting up a sales, design and manufacturing operation from a dedicated Digatron China facility in Qing Dao,” says Campbell.

“We view the Asian Battery Conference as the single most significant show on the Asian battery calendar. We believe that the event is very well organized, it has a focus on significant technology improvements and the technical calibre of attendees from all around the Asian region is excellent.”

He says the company is seeing a significant increase in requests from the Asian battery community for state-ofthe-art technology, and energy saving testing equipment.

“We believe so strongly in the Asian region that in addition to the Digatron China (Qing Dao) manufacturing operation, we are about to embark upon an additional new manufacturing facility in Pune India, through a joint venture with our long-time Indian representatives Ador Powertron, which is a respected as a world class equipment manufacturer,” he says.

L Pugazhenthy, executive director of the India Lead Zinc Development Association (another event sponsor) and

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 11

A VIEW FROM THE SPONSORS who won the International Lead Award at the ABC in Macau, China in 2009, says the importance of the Asian markets to both the supply and demand of lead production mean the conference sits at the heart of the industry’s future growth.

“The ABC takes place in a region in the globe where both lead demand as well as lead battery demand are growing continuously,” Pugazhenthy says.

(He is also profiled later on in this supplement see page 44.)

“China, India as well as countries in south-east Asia are witnessing a steady growth in the automobile sector, the biggest market outlet for lead batteries.

Other sectors like telecom and computers are also expanding, where lead battery is an essential component as a standby. New emerging markets like renewable energy and electric mobility indicate more opportunities for lead batteries.

New technologies and designs “Today, while we are fully aware of the health and environmental implications of lead and its products, the focus is more on safe lead usage practices. The ABC will also highlight new battery making technologies and design, weight reduction, high performance etc. Over a period of time, ABC has truly become the biggest lead battery event in the world, with the highest participation.”

Meanwhile, Christophe Thuet, business director for Daramic-Asia Pacific, will have two hats on at the Asian Battery Conference (ABC) in Singapore.

As director for the Asian region, he will be coordinating activities for Daramic at the event, but he will also have one eye on overseeing the overall ABC conference as a member of the organizing committee.

He says he is anticipating a well attended event this year as the ABC continues to grow and go from strength to strength as a conference. He says that while part of this is due to the central location and easy accessibility of Singapore as a location, it also reflects the increasing importance of the Asia Pacific region to the development and growth of the battery industry overall.

“The market for lead acid is grow-

“Quite simply, anyone who is anyone in the industry will attend the ABC” John Opie, Goonvean Fibres ing very quickly in Asia and there is a lot of interest in this event as a result,” he says. “It is a chance to meet all the Asian manufacturers and understand their concerns and needs. This level of interest combined with the easy accessibility of Singapore means we could have record attendance”.

Daramic is one of the event’s sponsors. He explains why the event is important to the US-based global company. “For us, the ABC is only every two years and it is a must-attend event. It represents a great opportunity for us to meet customers. All the major battery manufacturers will be there and it is an opportunity for Daramic to make announcements about our recent innovations and our technological developments.”

He says it is important to understand the market demand and expectations in Asia. The region’s diversity also means it requires a tactical approach that takes into account the differences between countries.

“Asia is the most challenging market to operate in because it has such a wide diversity of battery types and a variety of markets,” Thuet says. “Even in China and India alone, you have very different markets, each with their own specificities and product demand.

There is a lot of development and innovation happening in Asia and a growing percentage of overall battery production is moving towards Asia.

“In part, this is driven by very strict environmental standards in the west,” he says. “But you would be making a mistake to say that Asian governments do not care about these issues. China in particular is leading the way in terms of its environmental agenda. It has had a big clean up in terms of its lead acid industry in recent years. They want to reach a world standard in terms of environmental standards. And other countries are following suit.”

The market for lead acid is growing very quickly in Asia and there is a lot of interest in this event — it’s a chance to meet all the Asian manufacturers and understand their concerns and needs 12 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

Thuet says that at the last ABC, held in India two years ago, many of the papers delivered by lead specialists had at least one section dedicated to environmental matters. “That could well be the same this year,” he suggests. “Everyone is interested in how companies can be greener, more efficient and increase recycling while reducing waste.”

Returning to the theme of marketing and business development strategies in Asia, he says that his key piece of advice would be to be versatile. He says that broadly speaking, battery manufacturers in Asia can be categorized into several tiers, each with unique and separate needs and requirements.

He sees state-of-the-art battery manufacturers which are very sophisticated and moving technology forward constantly, playing on an international ground. But also manufacturers who are more focused on local demand, not as advanced technically but they are learning fast.

Focus and clarity Smaller regional battery manufacturers with a much smaller capacity are focused on servicing niche or local markets. They serve the after-market very well and are very focused on producing quality products but less on technological advancements.

Each of these segments need to be treated according to their needs with an emphasis on different levels of technical support as required.

Thuet says. “Versatility is critical and each country in Asia should be approached differently to reflect cultural variations and market demands. This region is so diverse and must be tackled with that in mind”.

He says another big theme at the conference will be new technology for electric vehicles, micro-hybrids and startstop technology. “There are a number of new technical concepts that we will see presented and discussed,” he says.

He also notes that although he is not personally presenting a paper, his colleague Kevin Whear, vice president of technology at Daramic will present a paper entitled: ‘The Uniqueness of the Asian Market and the Resultant Novel Separators.’ www.batteriesinternational.com

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OVERVIEW A major theme of the conference will be how Asia as a region has become the focus for major trends in the production of lead acid batteries and the challenges it faces as a consequence. Wyn Jenkins reports.

Asia is increasingly driving lead pricing moment,” Hawkes says. “Asia is certainly the main driver of demand. It now represents around two thirds of total lead demand. It has been the major growth story of the past 10 years.”

Hawkes notes that changing regulations in China could adversely affect this demand, however. He says that a proposal to introduce a 5% tax on lead acid battery manufacturing is designed to slow the market’s growth.

But demand remains strong in China as it does in India, which is growing fast, South Korea and Thailand. The Japanese market is slow on the demand side in comparison, Hawkes says.

Korea moving in

Neil Hawkes lead analyst at CRU, a London-based commodity research consultancy, will present a talk called Global Trends and Issues in the Lead Market. Hawkes is responsible for CRU’s lead market analysis and he is the main author of the company’s quarterly Lead Market Outlook and monthly Lead Monitor.

Hawkes says he will start by covering some of the issues around supply and demand, with a slant on the more interesting supply side of things and in relation to Asia where relevant.

He says demand for lead globally is both steady and reliable and has been relatively immune to the global economic downturn. Despite some changes in technology and other factors, he

expects growth to remain robust for some time to come.

He says that all the big questionmarks around lead pricing lay on the supply side. And central to the equation is the role of China in the lead markets.

“It is a very important part of this market as it continues to drive a lot of lead demand and supply growth at the

South Korea in particular has been quite aggressive in recent years in building up a solid industry around lead smelters and is increasingly winning the intense competition around competing for lead scrap metal – often taking scrap from other countries, including Japan and the US. Other countries are increasingly competing in this market, however.

Australian smelter Nyrstar looks close to securing a substantial investment that would make it far more competitive in this sector.

He says that he does not expect new technologies and the growth of the electric and hybrid electric vehicle market to change the broader dynamic in terms of lead demand.

“My view is that this represents a very tiny percentage of the total number of vehicles made globally and the

“The biggest negative of all is the macro-economic picture, especially in Europe. But against that, China, the rest of Asia and the US are all faring well. On the demand side, it is all very positive and it is tough to see too much of a downside at the moment.”

14 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

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OVERVIEW SMART BATTERIES AND RENEWABLE ENERGY Klaus-Dieter Merz is a consultant at Abertax Technologies, an independent business within the Abertax group of companies that was formed to research, design and produce innovative products. He previously worked for Exide for 28 years.

Its main focus is developing battery monitoring systems that can be monitored and controlled remotely via the internet. In this event, however, he will focus on battery energy storage systems.

Merz worked on the EUROBAT taskforce looking at batteries for smart grids and rural electrification applications. He says this technology will play a vital role in both the development of a decarbonized power system in Europe and the emergence of power systems in emerging countries across Asia.

“They are a fundamental in terms of the electrification of rural and remote areas,” he says. “In many developing countries such as India, there is no access to main power supplies.

“Electrification is a very important step forward and likely to use wind or solar technologies. But the use of the correct battery technology will make the difference in terms of how effective that is.”

EUROBAT recently published a study examining the potential contribution of battery energy storage at all levels of the electricity grid: generation, transmission, distribution and customer.

The paper reviews the four main battery technologies commercially available — lead, lithium, nickel and sodium-based batteries — and makes a series of recommendation for how their mass-market utilisation can be facilitated at a European level.

Another publication issued by EUROBAT recently focuses on increasing energy access in isolated rural areas, including in developing countries but also in small islands.

The guidance document was drafted to help installers, operators of rural electrification systems, as well as public authorities, selecting the best

battery technology for use in off-grid and mini-grid systems.

“The document aims to enhance the knowledge about the combination of functions that lead, lithium, nickel and sodium-based batteries can provide across different types and sizes of rural electrification system, and across varying environmental conditions,” Merz says of the report. “We hope the paper will provide authorities in rural areas with concrete data to help them make an appropriate selection.”

In some parts of India there are big power shortages. They might lose power for five or six hours at a time every day. This technology can help manage the electronics around these power storage systems.

He says Abertax is already supporting several companies in India which are rolling out this technology. “In some parts of India there are big power shortages.

They might lose power for five or six hours at a time every day. This technology can help manage the electronics around these power storage systems. The focus is on managing that flow of power whether it is generated from solar or wind and complementing the grid.

16 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

“Battery energy storage (BES) is an effective solution, and has already been implemented in numerous off-grid, mini-grid and hybrid installations across the world,” he says. “Unlike other storage technologies, BES systems are highly flexible and can be adapted to high power and high energy applications.”

He says that in the paper he is presenting, the authors propose a novel smart battery system that will make the battery an independent energy storage system. “This idea will enable the use of existing grid connected equipment thereby making it suitable for both off grid and on grid applications,” he says.

“This will create a solution that will meet such a variety of applications will also make it more affordable especially for the ever increasing demand to provide energy in rural areas. The project will demonstrate how smart energy storage can contribute to society and help with the global drive towards ‘Energy for All’, especially in isolated rural are and small islands.” areas He says that this em emerging global scenario ha has become much more in interesting in recent ye years especially with th the drop in PV prices.

“T “These possible energy sstorage solutions offer a vvery good perspective ffor the lead acid battery industry and a potential new emerging market is being created. The challenge is to provide standard modular plug and play components that will allow different system setups,” he ssays.

“This is a new and growing business area for the batteries industry,” he says. “Many governments are not doing enough to solve these problems. But there are some very good solutions out there. Subsidies are being given in some areas and many of the big battery manufacturers anticipate big growth.”

Merz adds that he expects this to be a big talking point at the conference more generally.

www.batteriesinternational.com

OVERVIEW

“And given lead’s positive outlook, on the LME, lead’s price typically falls less and rallies more quickly than most other metals through the daily/weekly gyrations of the metals complex.” vast majority of those use lead acid batteries,” Hawkes says.

“But while electric vehicles grab the headlines, other growth areas for lead go unnoticed. You also have increasing demand on the back-up power side for things like mobile phone and computer networks, many of which use lead acid batteries.”

Sectoral pressures He says: “You also have unique pockets of demand, such as electric bikes in China for example — that is a huge market that is still growing, albeit at a relatively more restrained pace than before. All this means that despite some distributive new technologies and chemistries, demand typically grows each year.”

Another reason for lead’s attraction to investors is that the market is expected to grow by between 2% and 4% a year. “And I expect it to continue to grow at that pace. It is stable (if not explosive) growth and investors like that.

“The biggest negative of all is the macro-economic picture, especially in Europe. But against that, China, the rest of Asia and the US are all faring well. On the demand side, it is all very positive and it is tough to see too much of a downside at the moment,” Hawkes says.

“It is a more attractive commodity at the moment because of some of the dynamics around supply and especially the very secure demand story.

Whether the lead and lead-acid battery industry likes it or not, investors are looking at it, not only as part of a broader commodity portfolio, but in some cases drilling down into the specifics of lead compared to other metals. And given lead’s positive outlook, on the LME, lead’s price typically falls less and rallies more quickly than most other metals through the daily/weekly gyrations of the metals complex.”

Alongside healthy demand growth, a number of disrupting factors on the supply side has meant that the price of lead is sitting at historically high levels, though it has become marooned, rarely straying far from $2,000/t. “You do see some fluctuation in line with the wider commodiwww.batteriesinternational.com

ties markets but lead is less affected by these changes than other metals,” Hawkes says.

One of the key supply dynamics is that the price of ‘scrap’ or ‘spent’ leadacid batteries has risen dramatically in recent years as the scrap industry has cottoned to the higher value of lead contained within spent batteries. They have increased their selling prices, putting pressure on smelters’ profit margins, in turn.

In terms of pricing, Hawkes believes LME lead prices will remain fairly stable this year. Prices started the year rallying to $2,400 per tonne and although the price has subsequently retreated closer to its $2,000 ‘anchor’ he does not anticipate any dramatic fluctuations this year.

“You can never predict pricing in the short term, but in the medium term it will be relatively stable and trade mostly above $2,000 for the rest of this year,” he says.

Next year, however, he believes the price could increase further. “In the longer term, especially if Europe recovers and Asian demand remains on a firm upward path, prices could push above early 2013 highs. And although

One of the key supply dynamics is that the price of ‘scrap’ or ‘spent’ lead-acid batteries has risen dramatically in recent years as the scrap industry has cottoned to the higher value of lead contained within spent batteries.

I see that as a trend for next year, if investors anticipate that dynamic, they could move ahead of an further improvement in lead’s own industry fundamentals. Long term, I am fairly bullish about the market.”

PRESENTATIONS TO LOOK OUT FOR Another big talking point at the event is likely to be improvements and the latest design breakthroughs in stopstart technology. A number of presentations are scheduled that will focus on this including: • Mild-HEV Performance at MicroHybrid Cost: A Low-Voltage Advanced Lead–Acid Battery Approach, presented by Allan Cooper from ALABC; • The Competitive Position of Lead–Acid Batteries for Stop–Start and Hybrid Electric Vehicle Applications, presented

by Geoffrey May from FOCUS Consulting; • and Development of the UltraBattery for Micro-Hybrid Electric Vehicle Applications, presented by Jun Furukawa from

The Furukawa Battery Company.

“Hybrid vehicles will be a big talking point as will stop-start technology,” says Ellis. “Temporary power storage is also a big thing in Asia with big opportunities. The grid is not stable and that could be a good thing for the battery industry.”

A number of presentations will also focus on these issues. Two such presentations are: • A Smart Battery System for Self Consumption of Renewable Energy by K-D Merz from Abertax; and, • Integrating Renewables into the Grid: Applying UltraBattery Technology in MW-Scale EnergyStorage Facilities for Continuous Variability Management by John Wood, from Ecoult.

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 17

REGIONAL OUTLOOK

Exponential growth forecast for India but business still dominated by the top two The market in India for lead-acid batteries is set for exponential growth in the next decade representing many opportunities for global batteries firms — but global players must strive to understand the nuances of doing business in India if they are to make the most of this opportunity.

That is the thrust of a speech that will be given by Vinod Dumra, business adviser Rahimafrooz Batteries, looking at the opportunities and challenges in the Indian market.

He forecasts some startling growth figures for the country that will make global players sit up and take notice.

Future values Dumra believes the lead-acid market in India could be worth between $9 billion and $10 billion by 2020, a huge increase for a market worth around $4 billion to the sector now.

“This is likely to be a very fast growing market with many opportunities,” he says.

India as an economy will increasingly represent a challenge and opportunity to western business, which must learn how to tap into its potential.

“The country has a general election

next year so expect some political turmoil but nothing too severe.

“The economy is the third largest in the world and growing rapidly. International businesses cannot afford not to be involved in such a big and fast growing economy.” The battery market specifically is very healthy.

He explains that there is a huge young population in India, a large percentage of which have access to world media and are aspirational and ambitious as a result. India is such a big country that even small segments of the population are still bigger than the total population of some countries.

And the growth potential is huge. At present, only 12 people in every 1,000 own a car. And the total power availability in the country is some 10% to 12% short of total demand.

“You can see there is huge potential for the battery industry specifically as a result,” Dumra says. “Renewable energy specifically offers huge potential. But it needs battery technology to fully harness it.”

Aside from this presentation it is worth remembering that the Indian market is essentially duopolistic. Two companies, Exide Industries [no rela-

“The economy is the third largest in the world and growing rapidly. International businesses cannot afford not to be involved in such a big and fast growing economy.”

18 • Batteries International • ABC supplement • Summer 2013

tion to Exide Technologies] and Amara Raja Batteries have around a 90% market share. Due to the tremendous brand recall by these companies, most original equipment manufacturers use batteries manufactured by them.

The passenger vehicle space is dominated by the two companies is also due to their strong tie-ups with recognized international players. Moreover, power concentration being in the hands of these two players, the pricing power remains strong for the industry.

The high efficiency with which lead acid batteries can be recycled has resulted in several recyclers entering the battery business. Since it is easier to make a recycled lead-acid battery than to manufacture a new one, most players find it more convenient to enter the battery recycling business.

Dumra forecasts a huge explosion in infrastructure growth over the next decade. He says it needs investment and this will boost the economy further.

Foreign investment Despite the vast pool of talent already in the country, India still requires foreign investment and expertise. But companies need to understand how to navigate specific rules and regulations within the market.

“The customers and import duty agreements can be complex,” he says.

“We import from Bangladesh because a trade agreement is in place but if goods come in from another country it can be expensive and time consuming. Exporters can get baffled by the rules.

Certainly, as this magazine remembers from the previous ABC in Hyderabad in 2011 that the import of some 3,000 magazines and directories to India was fraught with difficulties.

It required a whole day at various customs offices to bring our material in.

A rival publication, for example, was unable to provide magazines at the event by the same customs blockade.

“But the marketing is the same,” Dumra says. “I have seen many western companies get it wrong because www.batteriesinternational.com

REGIONAL OUTLOOK

India: a complex mix of old and new, rich and poor, developed and developing

they misunderstand Indian culture. It is also very difficult for an outsider to understand what happens in a supply chain in some cases in terms of where taxes apply and the nuances of that.”

He recommends that foreign companies starting operations in India always employ a local chief executive, marketing manager and operations manager. “The CFO can be an expat but in terms of some of the other more people orientated roles, it is very

easy to get it wrong,” he says. “You need to understand what we actually mean when we say certain things and how the systems and business procedures work out here. The timescales can be completely different.”

There are many examples of global companies that have succeeded in India such as Johnson Controls and Chloride India (Exide). “Others will follow and the opportunities are huge but cultural differences need to be ac-

“I have seen many western companies get it wrong because they misunderstand Indian culture. It is also very difficult for an outsider to understand what happens in a supply chain in some cases in terms of where taxes apply and the nuances of that.” counted for,” he says.

Dumra will also touch on the green agenda in India in his speech. “There is a dichotomy between what the industry needs to do in environmental terms and seeking growth,” he says.

“In the battery industry specifically, improvements need to be made. There is still a long way to go there.”

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Batteries International • ABC supplement • Summer 2013 • 19

SECONDARY LEAD The promoters of our Singapore conferences offered us ‘a week of lead in glittering Singapore’ but one talk will be more about the ‘glittering’ opportunities from new refining techniques.

The upcoming revolution: disbelieve it at your peril One of the best attended speeches at the conferences could be by Timothy Ellis, vice president of research & development, RSR Technologies, who will be presenting some revolutionary findings on new technologies the company has developed that can, he claims, create secondary lead with lower levels of contaminants than primary lead — a breakthrough that could have huge significance to a number of industries.

Ellis explains the background to and reason for the research being conducted. “Basically the issue is that there are two types of lead that are used in manufacturing: recycled lead and primary lead. Over the years there has always been a natural tension between the two types of producers about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the lead and which is best for various functions,” he says.

“Ultimately, it boils down to the levels of various contaminants in the lead and the effect that has on various functions when it is used in different type of batteries.

“The Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) funded a study a few years ago to look at this and specifically the effect contaminants have on gassing or over charging.

They discovered there were negative effects. Eventually, the wrong levels can mean a battery becomes drained of its properties such as water and eventually stops working.”

He explains that historically, most sources of primary lead have been low in the specific elements that cause gassing whereas many types of secondary lead have had problems getting rid of contaminates. This has become increasingly problematic, however, for certain industries.

“The ready supply of scrap batteries along with environmental concerns has motivated the present domination of secondary material from recycling facilities allowing lead to have the

highest recycling rate of any of the commodity base metals,” Ellis says.

“This makes sense from an economic and environmental standpoint.

But in some applications such as UPS and telecoms applications there are big long-term gassing issues and they need to use primary lead.”

He says that exacerbated by the recent closure of smelters in North America, this is now causing a problem. “It means there are now no producers of primary lead in North America at all.”

RSR Technologies has been working on a solution to this problem. It has been working with NorthStar, which makes high performance lead-acid batteries for Telecom Power Systems, Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) and Engine Start applications to develop a new type of secondary lead they have labelled ‘supersoft’ lead.

“It is a very high purity lead comparable in its properties to primary lead,” Ellis says. “It is a highly refined second-

20 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

ary lead with very low levels of impurities to reduce gassing in batteries.”

He says that grey and red oxide have been produced from this highly refined secondary material and VRLA batteries were fabricated using these oxides as a replacement for the conventional primary lead. This material contains up to 50 ppm silver (Ag) and up to 200 ppm bismuth (Bi).

“Tests of the VRLA batteries has shown that water loss, gassing and cycling characteristic are identical to those for using very low impurities primary lead,” he says. “RSR in North America and EcoBat facilities in Europe and South Africa have developed the capability to produce this material in normal operations.

“That opens many new markets up to secondary lead and changes the market dynamic on its head. It is a very important development because high purity lead is expensive and it saves shipping it in from countries such as China.” www.batteriesinternational.com

SECONDARY LEAD NYRSTAR INVESTS $350M IN SMELTER UPGRADE

Tranquillity. The Port Prie smelter was built in 1889 for processing early Broken Hill lead concentrates. Since then it has become the largest primary lead smelter in the world. Its blast furnace limits its capacity to 245,000 tonnes a year, however, other parts of the facility have a capacity of approximately 270,000 tonnes. The zinc production facility was commissioned in 1967 and the lead smelter in which gold and silver are largely recovered was rebuilt in 1998.

In terms of the response he expects to receive in Singapore, he admits that a great deal of scepticism exists around how good the end product can really be. He says the accuracy and reliability of the research being carried out will win through.

“The problem is this technology has the potential to turn the dynamics of the market on its head,” he says. “In

www.batteriesinternational.com

Asia, people will be very sceptical and this technology will raise a few eyebrows. It is a very technical subject but the upshot of the data is that is a very revolutionary material.

“In the tests we have been doing with NorthStar, this actually performs better than primary lead — whether people want to believe that or not is another thing.”

Australian lead smelter Nyrstar appears to be inching closer to securing a $350 million upgrade of the lead and zinc smelter at Port Pirie to a cleaner operation.

An advanced poly-metallic processing and recovery facility will be built, which the South Australian government says will secure the longterm future of more than 2,500 jobs.

It said the upgrade would substantially reduce lead emissions in the Port Pirie area by replacing the ageing century old smelter with a much cleaner metal processing operation. Nyrstar will put in $200 million for the redevelopment and the federal government will be the guarantor for private equity investment for the rest of the funding.

The planned work is now subject to feasibility studies, but the transformation is expected to lead to a significant improvement in air quality in the regional city.

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 21

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES Improving lead acid batteries has been the industry’s goal since the days of Gaston Planté. But the latest generation of alternative battery chemistries has accelerated the rate of lead acid development. And, as various ABC presentations will highlight, huge advances are still being made.

Accelerating the pace of development One of the big themes underlying the 15th ABC meetings can be summed up under the umbrella phrase: improving lead acid batteries and looking at what are increasingly becoming called advanced lead acid batteries.

Pavel Toser from the Brno University of Technology will be presenting a talk entitled ‘The Influence of Conductive and Non-Conductive Additives on the Properties of Negative Electrodes of Lead Acid Battery in PSoC Regime.’

He presented previously at the 13th ELBC conference in Paris and sees this paper as a follow up.

He will focus on the negative electrode, especially on additives mixed to the negative active mass (NAM).

“Our research team has worked with conductive and non-conductive admixtures for many years and we have a lot of experimental data,” he says.

“We tried to improve the lifetime and durability of negative electrodes.”

He says the team has been seeking an optimal or ideal combination of various additives. They tested the cells under specific test conditions and dis-

covered several mechanisms via which lead acid batteries can fail.

“The partial state-of-charge (PSoC) mode of operation is very demanding, particularly at high rates of charge/ discharge, and sets extraordinary demands on the properties of the negative active-material,” says Toser.

Better charging “The carbon particles have one of the biggest benefits in NAM because the ability of the electrode to accept high rates of charge is better in common with the growth of sulfate crystals.”

He says he believes additives to NAM will be one of the main topics at the 15th Asian Battery Conference. “In

my opinion we have to comprehend all of the processes in lead acid batteries. We have to use all the information from our more experienced colleagues and research teams. The best way to do this is to participate in this conference. Can we improve lead acid battery? The answer is: ‘yes’,” he says.

Another paper in a similar vein is called ‘The Properties of Lead acid Negative Plates Built Around Carbon Felt Micro-Scale Current Collectors’ which will be presented by John Abrahamson, chief technology officer and Stuart McKenzie CEO of ArcActive, a company that uses its proprietary carbon material, AACarbon, to improve the performance of batteries.

But while both NiMH and Li-ion battery technologies have met, or exceeded, the technical performance requirements, neither system has succeeded in achieving the costs targets necessary for a widespread economic success of NiMH and Li-ion industries and consumer acceptance of EVs/HEVs

22 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

www.batteriesinternational.com

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES ArcActive is also following on from 13ELBC where it discussed the development of novel negative plates based on coherent connected carbon fabric for the lead acid battery. These electrodes showed promise for higher DCA suitable for stop-start and regenerative-braking functions in hybrid vehicles, at an acceptable price.

“An update of this development will be given here,” says Abrahamson. “We report on results from a broader testing schedule, including more severe DCA tests. Some discussion will be given of why such stable long-term cycling is found.”

BULLISH ON LIGHT ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Greater role for carbon A related talk will be given by Subhas Chalasani, head of R&D at East Penn Manufacturing who will give a paper entitled ‘Mini Cell Testing for Advanced Lead Acid Battery Research’.

“Addition of carbon to the negative electrode has sparked renewed interest in lead acid battery technology,” he says. “This lead-carbon technology is well suited for micro/mini automotive hybrids and for grid energy storage applications.

“Numerous types of carbons are being developed for this purpose.

Screening such a large number of carbon additives along with other noncarbon additives is a daunting task for battery manufacturers. Usually, the evaluation of these additives is done by constructing 12V batteries which consumes a lot of manufacturing time and resources. This often leads to small sample size, which deleteriously affects the reliability of test data.

“To circumvent these problems, a mini cell design was developed and standardized for screening large amount of variables at R&D, East Penn. This drastically reduced the testing time from months to days and weeks.” In his presentation, he will discuss mini cell testing methodology in detail. The usefulness of this methodology will also be demonstrated with few examples of newly developed technologies.

Subhash Dhar, the founder and CEO of Energy Power Systems, will present a paper called ‘High performance advanced lead acid batteries for emerging markets’. He will argue that despite the hype surrounding the potential of other battery chemistries in recent years, lead acid could well still present a central solution.

Nickel metal-hydride batteries were introduced in the early 1990s for use in consumer electronic products and www.batteriesinternational.com

Possibly one of the most upbeat talks of the conference could be given by Edward Benjamin, the chairman of the Light Electric Vehicle Association, a trade group that represents about 250 members, mostly companies involved in electric bicycles, motorcycles, or scooters. Benjamin is also the senior managing director of eCycleElectric Consultants, which provides consulting services to the Light Electric Vehicle Industry.

His talk, entitled ‘Light Electric Vehicles — a Major Battery Market with a Brilliant Future’ will argue that this market is rapidly growing and, because early adoption has been so great ion parts of Asia, companies from this region could dominate production and technology going forward.

More than 150 million people are riding battery electric two-wheelers in Asia, Europe and the Americas, he says. About 30 million new vehicles will be sold this year, and

the market will grow in both product type and numbers to about 130 million vehicles per year by 2025.

The markets of today are China, Europe, south and south-east Asia, Japan, and the US, he says.

“But the markets of the future include the entire world. Asian vehicle manufacturers will dominate this market, and will buy most batteries from Asian battery makers. The chemistries purchased will include VRLA, LiMa, LiFePO4, and others yet to be commercialized,” he says.

“Challenges that face the battery makers, today, are to produce consistent reliability at appropriate prices, to produce batteries that will not burn or explode under abusive conditions, and to produce batteries that can operate and last when used in the high ambient temperatures of India, and south east Asia. These challenges only limit future growth, as the batteries available today are sufficient for the existing large market and user group.”

Energy Power Systems says it has designed and developed a battery system based on lead-acid chemistry that has achieved an unprecedented pulse power of over 1500W kg-1 and a cycle-life of over 1000 cycles at 100% DoD at 2C/2C charge/discharge rates the technology was further developed and commercialized for use in hybrid electric vehicles. Furthermore, lithiumion battery technology was introduced in the mid-1990s to power consumer electronic products and it continues to dominate the energy-storage market for portable applications, he says.

“But while both NiMH and Li-ion

battery technologies have met, or exceeded, the technical performance requirements, neither chemistry has succeeded in achieving the costs targets necessary for a widespread economic success of NiMH and Li-ion industries and consumer acceptance of EVs/ HEVs,” he says.

“In the meantime, global concern

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 23

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES over energy efficiency and the air quality in our environment continues to grow at an unacceptable pace and has prompted the industry and governments to continue the search for alternative solutions.”

He says that recently legislated fuel economy, new emissions standards, and the already high cost of vehicle electrification have forced the indus-

try to develop partial electrification of vehicle power-trains by deploying significantly more compact storedenergy systems on-board.

Mild hybrid solutions Partially electrified vehicles with mild-hybrid or start-stop functions are expected to become a dominant segment of the passenger vehicle

population by 2020. Such a transition will save more fuel than all of the EVs and HEVs on the road today.

“But to be economically viable, mild-hybrid and start-stop vehicles require inexpensive batteries with high power to energy ratios rather than batteries with high specific energy that are needed for acceptable driving range.

STOP-START — BUT WHICH TECHNOLOGY? A number of papers at the ABC will cover micro-hybrid technology advancements and stop-start technology. Allan Cooper, the European project coordinator for the ALABC, will present a paper called ‘Mild-HEV Performance at Microhybrid Cost: a Low Voltage Advanced Lead Acid Battery Approach’.

With wide acceptance of stopstart vehicles in Europe, the industry is looking for ways to increase the functionality of these systems to obtain lower emissions to meet future standards, but at minimum extra cost, he will say.

As such, the effect of enginedownsizing coupled with performance boosting by combining electric supercharging and turbocharging has been explored as this offers a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions without loss of performance — and at an affordable cost. Controlled Power Technologies and the ALABC commissioned AVL Schrick to convert a vehicle to the mild-hybrid system proposed, namely, the current model VW 1.4L TSI Blue Motion Passat. “ The work was completed in early 2012 and the performance results were impressive,” he says. “The vehicle achieved a CO2 reduction of 7% over the base car but has similar performance to the 1.8L version with 19% lower CO2 emissions. As against a naturally aspirated 2.0L saloon the emissions are 26% lower with better acceleration.

“The vehicle uses lead-carbon batteries and offers CO2 reductions at quarter of the cost per % than conventional hybridization techniques.

“Given the very aggressive CO2 emission standards being set in Europe, the car manufacturers are seeking extra functionality from a relatively low-voltage network. This has been set at a nominal 48V to allow for a top-of-charge voltage

Who wants to see the car when you’ve got batteries like these?

not exceeding 60V — a normally accepted upper limit where additional safety and isolation measures are required.

“At this voltage, a much higher level of regenerative power becomes available (8kW-10 kW) that will allow for additional functions such as direct engine assist and engine switch-off in cruise (sailing) mode. To explore the possibilities for advanced lead-carbon batteries in this application, a new vehicle is being built to this standard.”

Covering a similar theme, Jun Furukawa one of the pioneers of advanced lead acid batteries and the UltraBattery from the Furukawa Battery Company, will present a paper entitled ‘Development of the ultra-battery for micro-hybrid electric vehicle applications.’

“There is growing concern over global warming and the limited supply of fossil fuels,” he says. “This has resulted in a strong push for automobiles with reduced carbon dioxide emissions and improved fuel economy.”

He too touches on the emissions limits being set in Europe. “With such requirements, clearly microhybrid electric vehicles (micro-HEVs),

24 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

which have new features that include idling-stop and regenerative braking in addition to alternator control, will become the main stream in the near future,” he says.

Similar to the conventional automobile, the micro-HEV has only one 12V lead-acid starter battery, he saus. Nevertheless, there are great differences in the service conditions of the battery between these two vehicles. “The 12V UltraBattery, which is a combined lead-acid and supercapacitor energy-storage device, has proven to have excellent high-rate, partial state-of-charge durability,” he says.

At the 14th Asian Battery Conference in Hyderabad, India, Furukawa presented the performance of the flooded version of the UltraBattery for microHEV applications. In this coming presentation, the charge-acceptance and cycling performance of the flooded UltraBattery will be discussed since the UltraBattery is expected to be favourable to the micro-HEVs because of excellent dynamic charge-acceptance compared with the enhanced flooded lead acid counterpart.

www.batteriesinternational.com

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES MAC ENGINEERING UPGRADES INLINE AGM MACHINE, FIXED ORIFICE PASTER MAC Engineering & Equipment has released two new products to add to its existing battery manufacturing lines — an Inline AGM COS machine and an Industrial Fixed Orifice Paster.

The Inline AGM machine was fitted at Crown Battery in August and should be fully operational by early September. The purchase of the machine by Crown shows a new direction for the US-based battery maker, which provides an extensive range of both mainstream and specialized batteries but, as to date, has only made flooded lead acid batteries.

The Industrial Fixed Orifice Paster went into testing with a leading US manufacturer in August and is expected to be fully functional by September. After the R&D testing is complete, MAC will be ready to bring this machine to the market.

“Each of these machines provides a significant step forward in the quality of battery manufacturing machinery that we make,” says Doug Bornas, vice president of sales and marketing at MAC. “The Inline AGM machine, in particular, is a cutting edge product and designed specifically for high quality AGM battery making.”

The Inline AGM machine’s main advantage over other machines is that it gives consistent and accurate compression to each cell of the absorbent glass mat — either too little or too much compression limits the power output of the battery and “Energy Power Systems has designed and developed a battery system based on lead-acid chemistry that has achieved an unprecedented pulse power of over 1500W kg-1 and a cycle-life of over 1000 cycles at 100% DoD at 2C/2C charge/discharge rates. To-date, the EPS batteries have undergone over 55,000 start-stop cycles with no measurable drop in performance.

EPS batteries are undergoing thirdparty testing for mild-hybrid duty cycling (US06 and NEDC) and grid applications.”

Paolina Atanassova, R&D project manager at Cabot Corporation, will present a paper called ‘Performance additives for advanced lead acid battery applications’.

“New applications such as microhybrid cars, remote telecommunications and energy storage for renewawww.batteriesinternational.com

Bornas: new MAC products

also makes it susceptible to other external factors such as vibration.

Two cells will be loaded at a time in one of 12 group holders and moved out to start the process. Another holder will move in and be loaded with two cells as well and so on.

Each cell will have the lugs aligned as well as be individually compressed to a set amount.

After compression and turnover, each holder will go over a brush station, into a flux station, then a tin station, before heading for one of the three molds which make up a six cell battery. Each mold casts two cells with independent heating for each one. With the smaller molds, varying temperatures are easier to control which helps give consistent quality casting from cell to cell.

From casting the cells will be

automatically unloaded and placed into a case stuffer where all cells will be inserted at once into each case.

“The two cell casting arrangement – whereby we fill one of (12) 2-cell group holders (rather than 6-cell or 12-cell group holders) is such that we provide a faster production process. This two cell arrangement gives us shorter cycle times (around 20 seconds per mold) but moreover by dealing with only two cells at a time, we have greater control of casting temperature and hence higher quality of the casted cell,” says Dan Duffield, vice president of pperations at MAC. The In-Line AGM can handles plates as tall as 11” (280mm) and a cell width of up to 6” (152mm). We expect the cycle times to vary due to size but are expecting a 60 second cycle per battery for the average.

The Inline AGM COS machine is designed to meet the growing sophistication of AGM battery manufacturers who now distinguish their companies on ever-higher specifications on the quality and life of their products.

The Industrial Fixed Orifice Paster produced by MAC now benefits from the ability to apply a layer of paste on the underside of the normal cotton belt paster at the same time as the paste is applied on the upper surface.

“This provides a significant upgrade in terms of quality,” says Bornas.

Given the very aggressive CO2 emission standards being set in Europe, car manufacturers are seeking extra functionality from a relatively low-voltage network. This has been set at a nominal 48-V to allow for a top-of-charge voltage not exceeding 60 V bles are placing strong demands on lead acid batteries for improved charge-acceptance and cycleability under partial state-of-charge conditions,” she says.

“Carbon additives have pronounced effect on reducing negative-plate sulfation and for promoting a significant improvement in cycleability and charge-acceptance, both for valve regulated lead acid and flooded lead acid batteries.”

Cabot Corporation has developed

several new grades of carbon additive with controlled surface area, morphology and surface properties that are targeted to improve chargeacceptance and cycle-life while minimising the negative impact on water loss and high-rate discharge.

“The presentation will describe new model and test data that demonstrate how to balance water loss and high-rate discharge characteristics for high-carbon batteries, while preserving the benefits of high-charge

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 25

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

UltraBattery rescues renewables John Wood, the chief executive officer of Ecoult, will look at how certain UltraBattery technology can be used in MW scale energy storage solutions for continuous variability management.

Wood is unusual in the batteries industry in that his background includes experience launching technologies in a number of other sectors globally including security, identity, payment technology and telecommunications.

He joined the energy storage community in 2008.

As chief executive of Australian company Ecoult, he is now focused on the commercialization of the UltraBattery storage solutions.

“It’s probably the biggest question to solve to eventually move into a renewable cycle, rather than remaining in a consumption cycle of burning finite resources and accumulating by-products like CO2. Solving the storage issue will accelerate this end,” says Wood.

While this has been an issue for some time, current storage solutions are simply not cost effective, and price renewable energy out of the market compared with fossil fuels.

“In dollar terms, it costs around 3¢4¢ per kWh to produce power from coal and 6¢ to 20¢ per kWh for energy from renewable sources.

“But once you’ve harnessed energy from the wind or sun, it can cost a further 10¢ per kWh to store and retrieve it using energy storage, and even then you don’t get everything back as power is lost in that transfer.”

He believes the conditions are now right to solve the storage issue. The availability of improved storage, at lower cost, will effectively integrate intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power into the electrical grid.

He says that electricity providers are increasingly investing in solutions that can integrate variable renewable generation with the existing portfolio and the electricity grid. To operate reliably and stable, grids need to continuously balance supply and demand — a task complicated by the intermittency of renewable energy.

The variability of renewable output is a major hurdle to large-scale integration of renewables.

“Energy storage is a key enabler for accelerated adoption of renewable energy. It has the ability to control ramp rates of renewables output before presenting it to the grid and to

store energy for times of unfavourable weather conditions or peak demand times, making renewables reliable and dispatchable,” he says.

Wood says his presentation will outline the successful implementation of the UltraBattery technology in MW scale projects in Australia and the US, delivering: ancillary services; wind and solar smoothing and energy shifting; and diesel efficiency optimization on standalone power systems.

Further, a novel solution to the increasing need for short-term variability management will be discussed: the largely idle and underutilized backup infrastructure of data centre and telecom operations, which is — with the support of UltraBattery energy storage — able to balance the discrepancies between supply and demand on the electricity grid (ancillary services), at the same time as delivering 100% reliable UPS service. This results in an im-

proved economic model for operating the data centre power backup services.

“Power systems are only used for grid ancillary services when the grid is available and used to supply backup in case the grid fails. We call this ‘dual purpose’ energy storage,” he says.

Ecoult’s work is supported in various ways by corporate, government and research partners across the planet, including US-based parent East Penn Manufacturing, which produces the UltraBattery.

In Australia, Ecoult’s research partnership with CSIRO is maximizing the potential of the storage system via smart algorithms that can utilize analysis of weather pattern history to prepare the storage system in advance for weather conditions. In Japan, a technology alliance was formed with Furukawa Battery, which works with the CSIRO to the development of the UltraBattery solution.

CARBON HONEYCOMB GRIDS Recent studies on the leadacid battery negative plate have indicated that the optimization of the grid design can bring substantial improvements in the battery performance under high rate partial state of charge applications.

Angel Kirchev, project manager, storage systems, Laboratoire de Stockage de l’Electricité, will look at the potential options available to replace this traditional design and its advantages.

“Positive and negative plates employing carbon honeycomb grids with several types of metal coating are being tested at high rate partial state of charge conditions,” he says.

“The hexagonal honeycomb structure with cell size in the range 2.5-2.6mm in combination with conductive additive to the negative active material (milled carbon fibre with poor specific surface area and high-aspect ratio of the particles) allows a minimizing of the effective electric resistance of the grid.”

He says this also improves the utilization of the active materials by up to 65%-70% for plates with thickness 3.5mm. The High Rate Partial State of Charge (HRPSOC) cycling of positive plates with

26 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

honeycomb grids proceeds without significant active mass degradation and irreversible sulfation.

However, a Faradic efficiency of about 99% limits the number of micro-cycles achieved at these conditions.

The HRPSOC cycling of negative plates proceeds with Faradic efficiency close to the one of the positive plates.

Thus the negative plates go in sulphated state after about 50 capacity turn-overs (equivalent cycles).

However the sulfation of the negative active material was completely reversible and the capacity of plate was completely recovered even after five HRPSOC series applying several deep cycles.

The grid technology was scaledup from 3Ah-4Ah to 16Ah-18Ah electrodes with the size of the typical SLI plate ensuring easy integration in the typical AGMVRLAB assembly scheme.

“The results show the new grid technology is promising for full and plug-in hybrids where high energy and power density are required under combined deep cycling and micro-cycling conditions,” Kirchev says. www.batteriesinternational.com

15th ABC FLOORPLAN MAC Engineering

15 ASIAN BATTERY CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 10-13 September 2013

Stands 61-63 MAC Engineering supplies the lead acid battery industry with high quality downstream battery making equipment since 1965.

We offer complete systems for feeding, pasting, flash drying and stacking any continuous or gravity cast plate making technology.

From motorcycle and automotive batteries, to industrial and traction, we have equipment to handle any size of battery production.

New equipment solutions are now available for punched grids. MAC also offers finishing line 101 Cast on Strap, acid filling, equipment for automated leak testing, heat sealing and more.

Contact us today for more information on what we can do for you.

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The Battery Manufacturing Division of International Thermal Systems engineers energy efficient equipment for the Lead Acid Battery Industry.

With over thirty-five years of experience and expertise serving, International Thermal Systems offers innovative design in equipment to maximize production efficiencies and minimize energy consumption.

Approaching each project as a partnership, the goal of our Engineering Staff is to share the customer’s vision to produce the best solution for the application.

Providing a distinct competitive advantage, International Thermal Systems offers a number of patent protected processing solutions.

Our Technical Service Department provides international support for ALL makes/models of thermal processing equipment to keep the heat processing equipment running efficiently.

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Contact details: Doug Bornas Tel: +1 269-925-3295 E-mail: dbornas@mac-eng.com www.mac-eng.com

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Bitrode Stand 55

BITRODE CORPORATION, a leading manufacturer of battery manufacturing equipment, is known for its extensive product line of formation and laboratory test machines, battery simulation, software, and automation tools appropriate to all battery chemistries and applications. Best known for its laboratory equipment for cell, module, and pack level testing and production,

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the company has become the go-to source for innovative solutions in the advanced chemistry sector.

Clients across the battery, automotive, and battery test laboratories value Bitrode for turn-key collaborations and ongoing service. With their new line of formation and Lithium production and automation equipment, manufacturing has never been more efficient.

From nano-amps to megawatts of power, Bitrode delivers standard-setting excellence in accuracy, reliability, innovation, and engineering.

Contact details: John Grimm 9787 Green Park Industrial Drive St. Louis, MO 63123 USA Phone: +1 636 343 6112 Email: jgrimm@bitrode.com www.bitrode.com

www.batteriesinternational.com

15th ABC FLOORPLAN BM Rosendahl Stands 71 & 72

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BM Rosendahl provides manufacturing solutions for all lead acid battery types to the battery industry. They cover four fields of expertise - enveloping and stacking, cast-on-strap, assembly and plate sleeving and stacking. Their core business unit - assembly lines for starter batteries - provides entry to high-end assembly to battery manufacturers worldwide.

BM Rosendahl’s product portfolio covers production equipment for the manufacturing of automotive, motorcycle and industrial batteries in all technologies with PE-, AGM or leaf type separators, and they develop solutions for E-Mobility projects. They offer ahead of the curve technology with the most advanced machinery, equipment and service and the highest quality standards.

Customer-focus is a central value at BM Rosendahl.

In order to cope with today’s and tomorrow’s demands, they always strive for the right solution with the best service to fulfil customers’ needs for different applications. To ensure a quick and reliable reaction to continuously changing market requirements, BM Rosendahl has installed a worldwide network with sales, service and logistic centres in Austria, the USA, South Korea and China.

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Contact details: Rosendahl Maschinen GmbH Schachen 57, 8212 Pischelsdorf, Austria Phone +43 3113 5100-222 Fax +43 3113 5100-59 m.prasch@rosendahlaustria.com www.rosendahlaustria.com Sitz: Pischelsdorf, FN 74318 t, Landesgericht Graz

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Oak Press Solutions Inc Stands 61-63

Oak Press Solutions Inc., Booths 61-63 will be highlighting their lineup of Battery Grid Punching Systems.

Oak punching systems can be configured for production volumes from 500,000 to 5,000,000,000+ batteries per year. Oak systems can produce lug-in strip or lug-out panels for SLI applications, multi-panel strips for E-Bike or motorcycle applications. The battery grid punching tooling from Oak incorporate many exclusive features including the patent pending

www.batteriesinternational.com

embossed border tooling, quick change tooling and independently adjustable tooling stations.

Oak has been designing and building high speed punching systems for over 50 years at their facilities in Sturgis, Michigan, USA. In addition to the facilities in Sturgis they also have technical support facilities in China, Europe and India.

Oak’s experience in the battery industry consists of 16 battery grid punching systems and 35 battery grid punching dies to date. (more than all other battery equipment suppliers combined) Stop by Booths 61-63 to learn more about the fieldproven Battery Grid Punching Systems from Oak.

Kae Lii Machine Mfg. Co., Ltd. was established in 1991 and is recognized as a leading and experienced manufacturer of lead acid battery assembly machine, equipment, injection mold, injection battery casing and tooling in Taiwan. We have enjoyed a good reputation for over 20 years in this field. We execute good management systems and own the latest technology for keeping our high quality. We also hold ISO 9001 certificate.

We are confident that you will find KAE LII a reputable and reliable brand in the international battery industry. We would be pleased to meet you at our booth — you can also call us to arrange meetings outside exhibition hours.

Contact details: Oak Press Solutions Inc. Contact: Kent Lancaster Office: +1 269-651-8513 Mobile: +1 269-268-3116 Email: klancaster@oakpresses.com

Contact details: Chih-Yen Lin (Mr.), Vice Manager of Business Department Phone:+886-4-22753611 No.2 Lane 24, Her Lih St Tai Ping District, Taichung City, 41144, Taiwan , R.O.C E-mail: kaeliico@yahoo.com.tw www.kaelii.com.tw

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 29

15th ABC FLOORPLAN Inbatec GmbH

15 ASIAN BATTERY CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 10-13 September 2013

Stand 35

Formation systems with acid recirculation technology The Inbatec Modules – We form your batteries

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Inbatec is the world leader in formation systems with acid recirculation technology with more than 200 systems in operation worldwide. Our formation modules are reliable and proven and are used by many lead-acid battery manufacturers around the world.

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Your benefits: • Closed formation system allows complying with MAC values and environmental regulations • Precise acid gravity and temperature control results in very uniform cell-to-cell voltage • Shorter formation time means higher productivity, less space requirement and lower work in progress / inventory • Self-contained and independent modules – to be supplied only with concentrated acid, demineralised water, compressed air, electrical power • Whole acid management is done inside the module • Production capacity grows step-by-step

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The Inbatec formation process combines uniform and repeatable quality with high productivity and environmental compatibility. The Inbatec modules – the benchmark for lead acid battery formation.

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Källström Engineering AB Stand 49

Källström Engineering AB is a well known supplier to the battery industry. We specialise in custom designed equipment for filling of all kinds of lead acid batteries, filling of capacitors, gel and acid mixing and acid handling.

Recent developments include: • Triple headed filling machine for SLI batteries • Compact continuous acid mixing unit

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Filling equipment for AGM motorcycle batteries Filling equipment for bi-polar batteries Filling equipment for capacitors (acid or alkali) Four headed filling machine for VRLA batteries Gel mixing and gel filling Database for process monitoring

Our range or products also includes; acid proof conveyors, weighing equipment, storage tanks and rotary unions.

Our after-sales support includes commissioning, maintenance, spares, repairs and equipment upgrades.

Källström has its headquarters in Sweden, serving the whole world Contact details: Bo Johansson Phone: +46 40 671 1206 E-mail: bj@kallstrom.com Web: www.kallstrom.com

30 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

NEED BUSINESS ACCESS?

Are your customers in the dark about the excellent range of products and services your company provides?

Batteries International is a tried and tested way to turn our extensive readership to your advertising advantage Go to www.batteriesinternational.com click on subscriptions for your free trial

www.batteriesinternational.com

15th ABC FLOORPLAN

Sorfin Yoshimura Group Stands 61-63

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Sorfin Yoshimura is the largest independent trading company serving the worldwide lead acid battery industry.

Sorfin Yoshimura has offices in the USA, Japan, China, France, and Brasil in addition to agency cooperation in several other countries around the world.

We are a global company sourcing the best machinery, materials, and technical services for your battery factories specific needs.

Sorfin Yoshimura offers our customers the benefit of our decades of lead acid battery industry experience. We serve hundreds of customers throughout the world each year and customize our services for each and every factory.

We are constantly combing the world for the latest innovations in both materials and machinery; seeking to add vendors to our already vast network.

When you choose Sorfin Yoshimura, you will quickly identify the unique combination of commercial savvy and engineering know-how that has enabled us to become the company that we are today.

We look forward for you to contact Sorfin Yoshimura, The Source of Power!

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Contact details: Sorfin Yoshimura NY Contact: Paul Fink, President email: sorfin@sorfin.com Tel: + 1 516 802-4600 Fax: + 1 516 802-4601/4602 Website: www.sorfinyoshimura.com

Sorfin Yoshimura Tokyo Contact: Tom Yoshimura, President email: tokyo@sorfin-yoshimura.jp Tel: + 81 03 5575-3111 Fax: + 81 03 5575-0826

Stands 61-63

99

Entry Doors

Batteries International

Batteries International has been serving the energy storage and battery industry for over 20 years and has come to be regarded as the definitive source of unbiased news reporting, taking an authoritative stance on all aspects of the business. Batteries International’s editorial team has a reputation for fairness, integrity and impartiality — it’s in the business of trying to serve the $30 billion energy storage industry rather than simply work it for its own good.

The batteries business is in a state of flux. All the previous certainties are being challenged. Geographically, manufacturing has moved away from its traditional base

www.batteriesinternational.com

in North America and Europe. The work horse of the industry — the lead acid battery — is increasingly being threatened by rapidly developing chemistries funded by governments trying to find out where they can domestic industries a new competitive edge.

In this environment there are business opportunities — as well as dangers — galore. Keeping abreast of this rapidly changing world is a must, which makes Batteries International’s fair-minded reporting compulsory reading for the energy storage executive.

Batteries International is provided by independent publisher Mustard Seed Publishing.

Contact details: 10 Temple Bar Business Park, Strettington, West Sussex, PO18 0TU United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 7792 852 337 Web: www.batteriesinternational.com Email: publisher@batteriesinternational.com

Sorfin Yoshimura Qingdao Contact: Ms. Lisa Li; President email: qingdao@sorfin-yoshimura.cn Tel: + 86 532 8597-1191 Fax: + 86 532 8597-1192

Sorfin Yoshimura Europe Contact: Pierre de Costa Lobo email: paris@sorfin-yoshimura.fr Tel: + 33 01 7815-2715 Fax: + 33 01 7841-6778

Sorfin Yoshimura Brasil Ltda.

Contact: Mr. Mauricio Ferrentini Email: saopaulo@sorfin.com.br Tel: +55 11 3152-2223 Fax: +55 11 3151-2225

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 31

15th ABC FLOORPLAN KEY — BY COMPANY NAME COMPANY

STAND NUMBER

Ecobat Technologies Ltd

31

14

Oak Press Solutions Inc

61

91

Engitec Technologies

ACCUMA

76

Entek International

77

Polyworld Sdn Bhd / Mitahpoly Sdn Bhd

17

Accumalux

38

FRÖTEK-Kunststofftechnik GmbH

60

Porex Technologies

25

53

Flow-Rite Controls

Putz Group

47

Accurate Products Akumsan Plastik

58 & 59

AlfaKutu

73

Alpha Beta Fiberglass Product Company

107

Alpha Industrie-bedarfs

4

Gang Lih Industrial Co. Glatfelter Gernsbach GmbH & Co Golden Sunlight Power Equipment Technology Co.,Ltd Goonvean Fibres

66 & 67

P.C. di Pompeo Catelli s.r.l.

Abertax Quality Ltd

102 43 78 & 79 96 12 & 21

Quanzhou Yazhi Battery Machinery Co.

5

Quanzhou Yucry Traffic Appliances Co, Ltd.

100

Quanzhou Zhisheng Rubber Pastic and Gangxin Muld Co.

15

Raman FibreScience

24

Amer-Sil S.A.

70

Hadi Maschinenbau GmbH

37

ROSENDAHL Maschinen GmbH

Anpei Enterprise Co.

39

Hollingsworth & Vose

34

Rover & Rover GmbH

26

Inbatec GmbH

35

Shandong Jinkeli Power Sources Technology Co

51

65

Shandong Pufa Electrical and Mechanical Equipment Co.

16

Associated Battery Products

73a & 74

71 & 72

Batek Makina

11

International Thermal Systems

Battery Technology Solutions (BTS)

69

Jayachandran Alloys

27 & 28

Shenyang JUGU Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

88

Battery Technology Source Co.

10

Jiangsu CEMT Energy Equipment Co

44 & 45

Shingania Services

94

Bernard Dumas

32

Jiangsu Epoch Technology Co

18

Sinoma Science and Technology

BFS Batterie Füllungs Systeme

92

Jiangsu Sanhuan Industry and Commerce Co.

81

Sorfin Yoshimura

Bitrode Corporation

55

Junechen Mec. Co. Ltd.

40

Sovema SPA

54

Boading Fengfan Rising Battery Seperator Co.

46

Kae Lii Machine Manafacturing

95

SSRL Battery Directory

93

Borregaard

13

Källström Engineering AB

49

Starlit Power Systems Limited

9

China Jiangsu Jinfan Power Technology Co.

87

KE-Technical Textiles Pvt. Ltd

104

Tahtong Vanguard corporation

80

Chloride Technical and Trading Limited

101

6 61-63

Kraft Powercon

64

TBS Engineering

68

82

Leoch Battery Shenzhen Corp.

19

Termar S.r.l.

56

Chongqing Zaisheng Technology Corp. Ltd.

57

Lham Accurate Mold Co

90

Thai United Industry Co., Ltd.

CMWTEC Technologie

75

MAC Engineering

Chongqing Yuanfeng Machinery Co.

D.M. France Engineering Daramic LLc

1 22 & 33

Digatron Industrie-Elektronik GmbH

32a

DSC Company

98

Eastman Auto and Power Ltd 23 7&8

29 & 30

Wirtz Manufacturing

3 84 & 85

Wu Han Hilans Automation Machine Co.

42

Maschinenfabrik Gustav Eirich

36

Yingkou ARD Machinery & Electronic Equipment Co. Ltd

Nanjing Zhongguan Machinery & Electronics Co.

41

Yingkou Zhongjie Shida Seperator Co., Ltd.

48

Zesar Battery Technologies Co.

Nippon Sheet Glass Co. Oak Press Solutions

ADDO empowering lives EBC Korea Co.

Manika Moulds

61-63

61063

O.M. Impianti Srl

23a

Owens Corning

97

Zibo Xinxu Mechanical &Electrical Co., Ltd

89 76a 99

83 & 86

Zhejiang HuangyanJuxing Mould Factory

50

KEY — BY STAND NUMBER 1

D.M. France Engineering

36

Maschinenfabrik Gustav Eirich

72

ROSENDAHL Maschinen GmbH

3

Thai United Industry Co., Ltd.

37

Hadi Maschinenbau GmbH

73

AlfaKutu

4

Alpha Industrie-bedarfs

38

Accumalux

73a Associated Battery Products

5

Quanzhou Yazhi Battery Machinery Co.

39

Anpei Enterprise Co.

74

Associated Battery Products

6

Sinoma Science and Technology

40

Junechen Mec. Co. Ltd.

75

CMWTEC Technologie

7

EBC Korea Co.

41

Nanjing Zhongguan Machinery & Electronics Co.

76

ACCUMA

8

EBC Korea Co.

42

Wu Han Hilans Automation Machine Co.

76a Yingkou Zhongjie Shida Seperator Co., Ltd.

9

Starlit Power Systems Limited

43

Gang Lih Industrial Co.

77

Entek International

10

Battery Technology Source Co.

44

Jiangsu CEMT Energy Equipment Co

78

Glatfelter Gernsbach GmbH & Co

11

Batek Makina

45

Jiangsu CEMT Energy Equipment Co

79

Glatfelter Gernsbach GmbH & Co

12

Goonvean Fibres

46

Boading Fengfan Rising Battery Seperator Co.

80

Tahtong Vanguard corporation

13

Borregaard

47

Putz Group

81

Jiangsu Sanhuan Industry and Commerce Co.

14

P.C. di Pompeo Catelli s.r.l.

48

Nippon Sheet Glass Co.

82

Chongqing Yuanfeng Machinery Co.

15

Quanzhou Zhisheng Rubber Pastic and Gangxin Muld Co.

49

Källström Engineering AB

83

Zibo Xinxu Mechanical &Electrical Co., Ltd

16

Shandong Pufa Electrical and Mechanical Equipment Co.

50

Zhejiang HuangyanJuxing Mould Factory

84

Wirtz Manufacturing

17

Polyworld Sdn Bhd / Mitahpoly Sdn Bhd

51

Shandong Jinkeli Power Sources Technology Co

85

Wirtz Manufacturing

18

Jiangsu Epoch Technology Co

53

Accurate Products

86

Zibo Xinxu Mechanical &Electrical Co., Ltd

19

Leoch Battery Shenzhen Corp.

54

Sovema SPA

87

China Jiangsu Jinfan Power Technology Co.

21

Goonvean Fibres

55

Bitrode Corporation

88

Shenyang JUGU Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

22

Daramic LLc

56

Termar S.r.l.

89

Yingkou ARD Machinery & Electronic Equipment Co. Ltd

23

ADDO empowering lives

57

Chongqing Zaisheng Technology Corp. Ltd.

90

Lham Accurate Mold Co

23a O.M. Impianti Srl

58

Akumsan Plastik

91

Abertax Quality Ltd

24

Raman FibreScience

59

Akumsan Plastik

92

BFS Batterie Füllungs Systeme

25

Porex Technologies

60

FRÖTEK-Kunststofftechnik GmbH

93

SSRL Battery Directory

26

Rover & Rover GmbH

61

Oak Press Solutions, Mac, Sorfin Yoshimura

94

Shingania Services

27

Jayachandran Alloys

62

Oak Press Solutions, Mac, Sorfin Yoshimura

95

Kae Lii Machine Manafacturing

28

Jayachandran Alloys

63

Oak Press Solutions, Mac, Sorfin Yoshimura

96

Golden Sunlight Power Equipment Technology Co.,Ltd

29

Manika Moulds

64

Kraft Powercon

97

Owens Corning

30

Manika Moulds

65

International Thermal Systems

98

DSC Company

31

Ecobat Technologies Ltd

66

Engitec Technologies

99

Zesar Battery Technologies Co.

32

Bernard Dumas

67

Engitec Technologies

100 Quanzhou Yucry Traffic Appliances Co, Ltd.

32a Digatron Industrie-Elektronik GmbH

68

TBS Engineering

101 Chloride Technical and Trading Limited

33

Daramic LLc

69

Battery Technology Solutions (BTS)

102 Flow-Rite Controls

34

Hollingsworth & Vose

70

Amer-Sil S.A.

104 KE-Technical Textiles Pvt. Ltd

35

Inbatec GmbH

71

ROSENDAHL Maschinen GmbH

107 Alpha Beta Fiberglass Product Company

32 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

www.batteriesinternational.com

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES Improving charge acceptance and cyclability are the twin goals driving the push for better lead acid batteries in start-stop applications.

Paolina Atanassova, research & development project leader at Cabot Corporation, a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company, will present a paper entitled ‘Performance Additives for Advanced Lead Acid Battery Applications’ at the conference.

The trust of the paper, says Atanassova, will be around the technological developments that are allowing lead acid batteries to better deal with some of the growing demand on them as a result of their use in new applications such as micro-hybrid cars, remote telecom and energy storage.

“These new applications such as micro-hybrid cars, remote telecom and energy storage for renewables are placing strong demands on lead acid batteries for improved charge acceptance and cyclability at Partial State of Charge (PSoC) conditions,” she says.

A conventional car battery may see only a few charge-discharge cycles a day, whereas a start-stop battery must withstand dozens. To compensate, micro-hybrid manufacturers typically double the size of the battery and use the more robust valve regulated lead-acid (VRLA) battery design. This approach solves the cycling issue, but adds more weight, cost and space requirements to the vehicle, all of which are detrimental www.batteriesinternational.com

to creating smaller, fuel-efficient cars.

Cabot launched its new PBX51 carbon performance additive just over a year ago. The product is designed to improve lifetime and performance for lead-acid batteries in micro-hybrid vehicles.

In 2011, automakers sold an estimated 5 million micro-hybrids worldwide. By 2017, this number is expected to grow to 39 million vehicles, representing a market of $6.9 billion in sales, according to a report

by Lux Research.

Cabot claims that its PBX51 performance additive is designed to enable new automobile batteries to last as long under start-stop conditions as conventional car batteries, without today’s several-fold increase in cost and size. In addition, when added to VRLA batteries for micro-hybrids, the PBX51 performance additive has been shown to improve battery lifetime and the ability to recharge using braking energy. It also prolongs battery life by reducing negative plate sulfation - the major cause of short battery lifetimes in micro-hybrids.

“The challenge of the start-stop battery market, which soon will be half the global automotive battery market, has been to develop cost-effective batteries that can withstand repeated start-stop functions,” said Greg Romney, director of new business, Cabot

New Business Segment in a statement at the time. “Cabot’s PBX51 performance additive has been extensively tested to enable the auto industry to accelerate the adoption of micro-hybrid technology.”

Atanassova’s paper will look in detail at how carbon additives can be used within the battery to improve its performance.

“Carbon additives have pronounced effect on reducing negative plate sulfation and for significant improvement in cyclability and charge acceptance, both for VRLA and flooded lead acid batteries,” he says.

“At the same time other properties such as high rate discharge and water loss can be negatively impacted by carbon addition. There is strong evidence that decreased high rate discharge and higher water loss are due to partial adsorption of lignosulfonate on the carbon surface.”

She explains that this could limit the availability of lignosulfonate at the lead surface in the negative active mass. The presence of lignosulfonate at the lead surface is considered critical for high rate discharge performance due to the formation of a porous lead sulfate layer during discharge. When the overall concentration of lignosulfonate in the negative plate paste is appropriately adjusted, the high rate discharge performance and water loss can be restored to the desired level.

Cabot has developed several new grades of carbon additives with controlled surface area, morphology and surface properties targeted to improve charge acceptance and cycle life while minimizing negative impact on water loss and high rate discharge.

“The presentation will describe new model and test data on how to balance water loss and high rate discharge characteristics for high carbon batteries while preserving the benefits of high charge acceptance and improved cycle life,” he says.

Batteries International •15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 33

ASIAN BATTERYMEN: JUN FURUKAWA Although CSIRO’s Lan Lam can be credited with a great deal of the R&D in the development of the UltraBattery, he could not have achieved it without the dynamic and innovative assistance of Jun Furukawa of Japan, holder of more than 100 patents for alkaline and lead-acid storage batteries.

Jun Furukawa — Japan’s R&D king It was an unusual background for an unusually gifted man. Jun Furukawa, Japan’s battery research giant, was born on April 14, 1957 and unusually for the country at the time, into an international context. His father, Kiyoji Furukawa, worked for a US bank in Yokohama, while his mother Chieko and two aunts were fervent Catholics.

The result was that the entire family was raised as Christians, uncommon in Japan.

His education too was also very different from the norm. During the 1970s, Furukawa was schooled at The Eiko Gakuen, a prestigious Catholic preparatory and high school.

In 1976 he entered the chemistry department at Aoyama Gakuin University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering.

But a key influence in setting his future direction came in his senior year and an encounter with professor Osamu Matsumoto, in charge of graduation work. He is a prominent scholar for his studies into electrochemistry and plasma-chemistry, and known for his educational enthusiasm and rigor.

And on Matsumoto’s recommendation, he obtained a job in the R&D department of the Furukawa Battery Co — a coincidence of fate since Jun Furukawa is entirely unrelated to the family that ran the company.

His duties were varied when he started in the spring of 1980 — his first task was the research and development of lead-acid batteries for electric buses of the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau. In following year, he researched a method of manufacturing a Pb-Ca-Sn alloy strip for lead-acid batteries through continuous cast rolling, its aging characteristics, and its application to batteries.

But life didn’t consist of just work and in May 1982 he married Ranko

Miyoshi, at his regular church, the Yamate Sacred Heart Cathedral in Yokohama. His first child, a son, Yuki was born in 1985 and his daughter Saki was born in 1988.

But early on in his career it was clear that his research would be played out on a larger more international stage.

In April 1983, Furukawa was assigned to the Space Technology Department, where he was involved in the fabrication of a flight model in the development of the space Ni-Cd battery (commissioned by the National Space Development Agency of Japan) and in its qualification tests at NASDA’s Tsukuba Space Center. The developed batteries were loaded on satellites such as the MOS-1 and the ETS-5.

Just over a year later, he worked on the R&D of a ceramic seal terminal by the Active Metal method (Ti-Ni alloy) for space alkaline batteries such as Ni-Cd and Ni-H2 (commissioned by NASDA).

The next challenge was to occupy three years of his mind: the development of the space high-capacity Ni-Cd battery (commissioned by NASDA) and the research and performance improvement of a Ni slurry sintered plaque for Ni-Cd batteries, as well as the development of manufacturing processes and equipment. “Our achievements were

34 • Batteries International • ABC supplement • Summer 2013

applied to consumer batteries and are still used,” he says.

From April 1988 to March 1993, Furukawa, now based at his company’s R&D centre in Iwaki city, led a Ni-MH Battery Development Group.

Having innovated a misch metal-Ni hydrogen storage battery, with its negative electrode being a modification of spherical nickel hydroxide, a positive electrode, and a separator, the Japanese team developed sealed Ni-MH batteries integrating these components and processes for manufacturing electrodes and batteries.

Having succeeded in putting small consumer Ni-MH batteries into production, Furukawa was transferred to a commercialization team.

During this period, Furukawa and his associates had co-developed Laves phase alloy with professor Wakao at Tokai University’s Faculty of Science.

He also had to deal with the response to domestic and international problems concerning intellectual property rights.

From April 1993 to March 1999, Furukawa stayed with nickel metal hydride. These were frustrating years as solid improvements were made during a deteriorating commercial environment. “As a development director for performance improvement of Ni-MH batteries, I’d been working to improve the positive and negative electrodes and the battery structure, and successfully achieved, for example, an increase in the capacity of double A-sized batteries by about 30% from 1100mAh to 1400mAh. “However, we decided to withdraw from the business because our competitors had increased the production and Li-ion batteries, made smaller and lighter than Ni-MH, had led to a drop in prices.

“It was bitter for me to withdraw www.batteriesinternational.com

ASIAN BATTERYMEN: JUN FURUKAWA from the Ni-MH battery business in which I had been engaged between 1988 and 1999. We launched the development of new Ni-MH batteries in 1988 and I was in charge of the development. Sanyo, Matsushita (now Panasonic), and Toshiba had already started their development nearly five years earlier, but we also managed to commercialize our products two years after the commercialization by these three leading companies.

“During our development, we spent a lot of time avoiding infringement of these leading company’s patents, but we could not bypass all of them and had to enter into licensing agreements.

Payment of these licensing fees imposed a heavy burden on our business.”

Indeed for a while after the commercialization, the firm’s Ni-MH battery business had been successfully growing and, at one time, it had even produced four million batteries per month and a market share of nearly 10%.

“Our business then focused on moving into the black, which was not long before the big three, Sanyo — Matsushita, and Toshiba — boosted their production several times,” he says. “In addition, Li-ion batteries began to be produced on a commercial basis. This resulted in the market price of Ni-MH batteries dropping to almost half and hence our business becoming unprofitable rapidly.

“In March 1999, we finally had to withdraw from the Ni-MH battery business. As it turns out, I was both creator of our Ni-MH batteries and also witness to the demise of our Ni-MH battery business. We managed to overcome this difficulty but it took years to recover from this.”

With the growth in demand for Liion batteries, all battery manufacturers except Sanyo and Matsushita were forced to withdraw from their Ni-MH battery businesses.

At this point, arguably, some of his most important research work was to happen by his switch away from Ni-MH. “While most of researchers and developers who had been engaged in their Ni-MH battery businesses moved into the research and development of Liion batteries, I was charged with the research and development of lead-acid batteries, which were at the opposite extreme of state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries, though one of our key businesses, where I had a chance to encounter the UltraBattery.”

The next few years, until 2006 saw the Japanese battery innovator turn his www.batteriesinternational.com

Since 2004, in collaboration with CSIRO in Australia, Jun Furukawa has been part of the team developing the UltraBattery. Here pictured with Lan Lam, the guiding force behind the project who retired earlier this year.

mind to the challenge of the day: VRLA He was assigned to Technology Development Department and appointed the leader of MV Team and Iwaki Development Centre’s Second Group. The challenge was the improvement of 36V valve-regulated lead-acid batteries for next-generation 42V-system automobiles, which meant examining positive and negative electrodes, battery structure, evaluation test methods, and heat dissipation mechanisms.

“With a view to enhancing the hightemperature durability, we had also co-researched and developed Pb-CaSn-Ba alloy for positive electrode substrates with Toho Zinc and successfully achieved 1.5 times longer life than before and put it into practical use.”

Next in this glittering chain of research achievements, Furukawa concentrated on strengthening mechanisms for Pb-Ca-Sn-Ba alloy (collaborating with the Iwaki Meisei University) as well as a method of suppressing sulfation of lead-acid batteries and BCM, a lead-acid battery and super capacitor module.

Since 2004, in collaboration with CSIRO — Australia’s national science agency (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Furukawa has been part of the team questing for that Holy Grail: the UltraBattery.

The Ultrabattery The UltraBattery is a revolutionary technology invented by Lan Lam from CSIRO, in which an ultracapacitorbased electrode is incorporated in a negative electrode of a lead-acid storage battery to achieve a much higher operational durability under the PSOC conditions, which had been considered to be difficult with conventional leadacid storage batteries. This technology paved the way for the practical realiza-

tion of storage batteries for next-generation hybrid automobiles and smart grids.

“CSIRO’s Lan Lam and I had started our collaborative development and completed a prototype UltraBattery FTZ12-UB with a size of lead-acid battery for motorcycles in mid-2006, just a little more than one and a half year into the collaboration,” he says. “We then participated in the ALABC’s in-vehicle test project on a Honda HEV known as Insight.

“The in-vehicle test had started at the end 2006 and gone smoothly to achieve our original target of 50,000 miles in just a half year.

“We had continued the test with a doubled target of 100,000 miles and also achieved this target in January 2008.” This was a first in the history of lead-acid storage batteries.

In March 2009, Furukawa and Lan Lam won the 2009 Technical Development Award of the Electrochemical Society of Japan for the Development of the Ultra Battery.

In 2008 the UltraBattery was licensed to East Penn Manufacturing one of the top lead-acid battery companies in the US. During this period, Furukawa was appointed the leader of 1st and 2nd Groups, Technology Development Department in April 2006 and, afterwards, of Development Department 1 in 2009.

Furukawa is now engaged as a director in the development of lead-acid storage batteries for automobiles and industrial applications as well as UltraBatteries for next-generation automobiles and smart grids.

At the same time, he has been the leader of the UltraBattery commercialization project team from 2011 and more details of which will be given in his presentation at the ABC meetings.

Batteries International • ABC supplement • Summer 2013 • 35

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES Covering what is likely to be one of the most pertinent themes of the conference, Geoffrey May, director of FOCUS Consulting, will give a speech entitled ‘The competitive position of lead-acid batteries for stop and start and micro-hybrid applications.’

Stop-start technology is go-go-go As the former group director of technology for Hawker Batteries (now EnerSys) and then chief technology officer for Fiamm, Geoffrey May has been an established member of the batteries business community for many years.

“The need for fuel economy for cars and light vans is driving a rapid change in vehicle drive trains starting with simple start and stop systems and moving through full hybrids to plugin hybrids and electric vehicles,” says May. “These vary in cost and complexity with start and stop or microhybrids providing significant reductions in emissions at least cost.”

The background to the speech, he says, is the various targets around vehicle emissions that the European Union has set, the first deadline for which comes into force in 2015. He notes that while the rest of the world is not yet committed to such high standards, the buying influence of EU-member countries will mean that manufacturers all over the world are now grappling with this problem.

“The adoption of stop and start or micro-hybrid technology is rapidly becoming universal in Europe and the majority of new cars produced will have advanced lead-acid batteries installed by 2015 to enable vehicles to meet strict emissions requirements,” he says.

“In Europe the requirement is to meet carbon dioxide emissions of no more than 130g/km as a fleet average by 2015 and this will reduce to 95g/ km by 2020. There are similar requirements in North America but the timescales are more extended and in other parts of the world.”

“But the fact is that manufacturers based in Europe will have to comply and any company that wants to export into the US or Europe must also comply,” May says.

“That means that Japan and South Korea are going to have to adopt these

changes in the cars they export and it seems likely to be they will end up selling the same technology to their own markets by default. New technology usually becomes adopted fairly universally in my experience. It is unlikely they will make two different models.”

He says that some countries in Asia are more proactive than others. He says although the Chinese government is promoting a green agenda in some ways, it is tempered with reticence. “But if they want to be exporting, they must comply.

“China is now rapidly becoming the largest market in the world for lead acid batteries. Stop-start technology is at the heart of that.”

He notes that lead-acid batteries with valve-regulated lead-acid and extended life flooded designs have been developed that will allow some recovery of energy by regeneration but the dynamic charge acceptance of these batteries needs to be improved to reach higher levels of recovery.

Adding to the mix “This has resulted in proposals to use other energy storage devices such as supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries in conjunction with lead-acid batteries but these add substantial costs to the vehicle,” says May. “Further improvements to lead-acid batteries are under development that will extend the capability of the system.

“A simple stop and start system provides significant reductions in emissions at a low cost but the duty cycle for the battery is much more intensive than in a conventional vehicle. VRLA batteries work well in this application but there is a cost premium,” he says.

“ELF batteries have a lower cost premium and various design changes as well as the use of additives in the active materials have improved perfor-

36 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

mance.

“In the future, however, the need for continuing improvements in fuel economy is putting a lot of pressure on battery systems as higher levels of energy recovery are needed.”

The key parameter here is dynamic charge acceptance — the current accepted by the battery at a reference voltage. Higher charge acceptance allows more energy to be recovered.

Lead-acid batteries are continuing to be developed to provide higher DCA and the low cost of this chemistry compared to lithium-ion and supercapacitors will provide a strong incentive to invest in research in this area.

May will discuss recent progress in lead-acid batteries for stop and start and micro-hybrid applications and the competitive position of lead-acid with other energy storage technologies. Market forecasts for the adoption of different levels of hybridization of vehicle drive trains will also be presented. www.batteriesinternational.com

ADVANCE NOTICE

th

14 European Lead Battery Conference and Exhibition

Edinburgh I Scotland I September 2014 The International Lead Association is pleased to announce that the 14th European Lead Battery Conference (14ELBC) and Exhibition will be held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Scotland on 9-12 September 2014.

14ELBC will provide an ideal opportunity for anybody involved with the global lead battery industry to review and discuss the most recent technical advances associated with lead-acid batteries, especially in the areas of emerging new automotive and renewable energy systems.

Technical presentations at the Conference will bring delegates right up-to-date with the latest research and development information from around the globe, and will be of keen interest to both manufacturers and users of lead-acid batteries, as well as to the scientific community. An extensive Exhibition – expected to involve over 100 exhibitors - by suppliers to the industry of equipment, materials and technology, will also take place.

Since the first meeting in Paris in 1988, the European Lead Battery Conferences have developed a reputation for high quality presentations on the design, manufacture, performance and use of lead-acid batteries. Over 600 delegates and 100 exhibitors attended 13ELBC in Paris in 2012, and similar numbers are confidently expected in Edinburgh.

14ELBC Conference Secretariat: Maura McDermott International Lead Association, Bravington House, 2 Bravingtons Walk, London N1 9AF United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 7833 8090 | Fax : +44 (0) 20 7833 1611 | E-mail: 14elbc@ila-lead.org

THE REGULATORY DEBATE Environmental issues and their regulation will be an important theme during the conference mostly because higher standards in the west have put Asia at a competitive advantage.

Breathe deep and tell us you feel better!

Asia is already the global centre of battery production and the influence of some of the world’s fastest growing economies is now growing rapidly. The region is increasingly driving other areas of the market due to its rapidly growing demand for batteries — and so sgtarting to set the agenda in other areas such as the regulatory arena — as well as areas such as lead pricing and these issues will be big talking points in terms of the official programme and outside it.

Hand in hand with a quickly growing batteries industry, however, goes other issues. Environmental issues and the regulations that accompany this issue are likely to be a major discussion area, predict many delegates.

“Environmental issues will be a big talking point,” says Timothy Ellis, vice president of research & development, RSR Technologies. He says the way that emerging economies such as

China and India decide to regulate the batteries industry against a backdrop of environmental concerns will be critical to the way the industry develops in such places.

There is, for example, a huge disparity between the way environmental issues are being treated in countries around the world with many regulators in Europe and the US over-reacting to environmental lobbyists, thus making it hard for the energy storage sector to compete.

“Our technology is at the forefront of the environmental side of things but I do worry about the way regulations are going overall,” he says.

“It is one thing for the industry to be responsible for the levels of lead in the blood of a factory worker, for example, but for us to be held accountable for the levels in the rest of society is another matter again.”

He also says that the way the indus-

38 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

try deals with the emerging economic might of countries such as China will determine the shape of the battery industry — and many other industries — in the future. He says it concerns him that so much of the industry’s production is now based in Asia, a situation he is not sure is healthy for western economies.

“How to deal with China is an interesting issue and potentially a big stumbling block,” he says. “They have taken our technology and are selling the products back to us. As a result, in western Europe there are almost no battery manufacturers left.

“That worries me. I am not sure we can all be web designers! It is important western economies maintain that expertise in manufacturing. In Asia in particular these guys are now very smart with very big and very sophisticated economies and financial markets. It is a false impression they are www.batteriesinternational.com

THE REGULATORY DEBATE Environmental issues and the regulations that go hand in hand with this issue is likely to be a big talking point, predict many delegates. lagging behind us in some way.”

Geoffrey May, director at FOCUS Consulting, agrees: “China is increasingly where the centre of gravity really is in the industry. It is dynamic and growing fast but also in need of technical support.

The challenges and opportunities that presents will be a huge talking point,” he says.

Some of the presentations that will touch on environmental issues such as these in some ways and should be worth attending include: • An Update on the Indian Market presented by Vinod Dumra from Rahimafrooz Batteries; • A New Method of Making Industrial Lead-Acid Battery in an Environmentally Friendly Way, presented by Ming Zhang from the Tiger Hi-Tech Industrial R&D Center; • How NOT to run a Lead-Acid Battery Factory, presented by Doug Lambert from WIRTZ Manufacturing Company; and, • Status and Outlook of the Lead Market in China, presented by Xia Cong from Antaike.

CHINA LOOKS TO TAX LEAD ACID EXPORTS One of the bigger talking points among certain delegates at the conference is likely to be recent proposals by China’s central government to introduce a new 5% tax on lead-acid battery manufacturing.

It is a move that manufacturers fear will damage the industry and are calling for the tax to be withdrawn or delayed.

The consumption tax will not only affect batteries. It targets products with high resource consumption that cause pollution or environmental damage, as well as some highend consumer goods. At present 14 commodities including cars, cigarettes, alcohol, cosmetics and some jewellery are subject to the tax.

The logic behind China introducing the tax are twofold, says Neil Hawkes, lead analyst at CRU, a London-based commodity research consultancy. He says the move is partly driven by environmental concerns and partly by a desire on the part of the Chinese government for manufacturing in the country to move up the value chain.

The Chinese government has been getting increasingly concerned over the impact of pollution on human health. Air quality has been under the spotlight and more specifically fine particulate matter that reduces visibility and causes the air to appear hazy when levels are elevated.

“In part this is driven by concerns around environmental issues,” says

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Hawkes. “They need to tackle some of these big issues such as air pollution and this represents a start.

“But it is also partly because they do not regard batteries as a value added product. They want to be moving up the production chain and they would rather export a car than the battery to go in it.”

And he says fears on the part of some manufacturers that the tax would hinder their ability to compete in the international markets could be

well founded. It is specifically feared by some that they will lose out to other south-east Asian manufacturers not affected by high tax levels and this could lead to manufacturing relocating outside of China.

“If anything, it does mean an opportunity for other countries and manufacturers elsewhere in Asia to step into that market and fill a gap, making for stronger lead demand outside rather than inside China,” he says.

AIRPOCOLYPSE NOW

Press reports around the globe have carried news stories about the recent terrible smogs in Beijing.

As long ago as 2007, the World Bank indicated that the combined health and non-health cost of outdoor air and water pollution for China’s economy was around $100 billion a year, or 5.8% of the county’s GDP. Northern China’s smog — fed in part by the burning of coal for

heat and electricity — has been shown to shorten average life expectancy by more than five years, according to a recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and three other universities.

China’s pollution will inevitably have an impact on its business climate as a lower quality of life deters skilled workers from moving to China and Chinese expats from returning home.

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 39

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Recent international initiatives from BCI, Eurobat, ALABC and the ILA have prepared the ground for greater awareness of finding a balanced approach to dealing with lead safety.

Legacy issues — dealing with toxic malpractice from the past Given the increasing predominance of environmental issues as a talking point at any battery conference these days one of the better attended papers could be that given by Brian Wilson, program manager with the International Lead Management Center (ILMC). His talk will be called: ‘The three R’s — remediation, recovery and recycling.

Wilson is responsible for the design and implementation of multistakeholder regional and national lead risk reduction programs.

Before joining the ILMC, he worked for 15 years with the oil industry followed by 18 years with MIM Holdings in a career that has spanned production, industrial relations and human resource management.

His talk, as the title suggests, will cover safety issues around the use of lead acid batteries and the work being done to improve this and the extent to which they are recycled but also how the industry can work together to solve historical contamination issues.

left us with a multitude of toxic hot spots and a legacy of lead contamination, acid pollution and population lead exposure issues. Resolving the issues of remediation, recovery and recycling presents unique challenges that not only embraces scientific methodologies, but will include a so-

Green but dirty “Unfortunately, in many developing countries and some nations in transition, the recycling of used lead acid batteries has not been, and is not always, undertaken in a safe, hygienic or the most environmentally sound manner,” Wilson says.

“Over time these practices have 40 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

cial dimension to ensure a sustainable future for communities adversely affected by poor lead management.”

His presentation will explore how the academic world, the NGO community and the lead industry have worked together to produce a model approach for community-based solutions for the environmentally sound and sustainable recycling of ULAB. The ILMC works with inter-governmental organizations such as the UN Lead Zinc Study Group and the Basel Secretariat, the Lead Industry, Industry Associations such as the China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association and the India Lead Zinc Development Association, national governments and NGOs such as the Blacksmith Institute on the implementation of regional and national projects for the environmentally sound recovery of used lead acid batteries.

Wilson’s talk will be given in collaboration with the New York-based Blacksmith Institute, an organization that works with local communities, national governments and international organizations to clean-up pollution problems affecting children’s health in low and middle-income countries.

He will be presenting alongside, two other speakers: Meredith Block, programme director at the Blacksmith Institute, and Jack Caravanos, a professor at City University School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York who also sits on www.batteriesinternational.com

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

“Patents offer a major competitive advantage in this technology-intensive market, where industry consolidation to gain technology and market advantage is a strong possibility” the technical advisory board of the Blacksmith Institute. The three will also be presenting separate but similarly themed papers at the 3rd International Secondary Lead Conference, a co-joint hosted event that takes place on September 9 and 10.

International experience Block has worked directly with the governments of Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Indonesia, India and China resulting in the implementation and delivery of decontamination and remediation projects across Africa, Latin America, Russia and Asia. She has also worked directly with many international nongovernmental organizations including: the World Health Organization, the Basel Secretariat, Médecins sans frontières, UNICEF and the UN Industrial Development Organization.

“The Blacksmith Institute is not just interested in lead — we identify toxins and chemicals that have and are having an impact on the health of children where ever in the world that may be and explore ways of solving that problem,” she says.

“We identify where these sites and are then look to implement projects to stop this being a problem any more. We have worked at thousands of sites all over the world over the years but the most common toxin we work with is actually lead.”

She explains that it is important that the Blacksmith Institute is able to work with companies directly when attempting to solve these problems and that the organization does not look to name and shame or blame companies involved.

“We appreciate that many of these companies are not huge and are also often big employers in the local communities. The best approach is almost always to work with these businesses to solve the problem and stop further exposures happening. We do not www.batteriesinternational.com

BALANCING SUPPLY AND DEMAND “The lead market has faced many challenges over the past few years, not least the increasingly stringent environmental regulations which govern the industry. It is also facing a declining supply from lead mines, competition for scrap batteries (which has driven prices higher), and the redistribution of output between China and the rest of the world,” says Helen Matthews (pictured right), the head of base metals markets for UK-based energy, metals and mining consultants Wood Mackenzie.

She argues that the outlook remains positive despite these issues, but the strength of the growth in lead demand is vital to the success of the industry. She notes that many alternative battery technologies have been mooted over the years but as yet there is little real competition to the lead– acid battery.

New opportunities have arisen via the advent of stop–start battery technology and the rollout of 3G and 4G telecommunications technology across the globe.

Stop–start technology is already widely available in some of the developed economies such as Japan and Europe, and it is gaining traction in the US, where 26% of all new vehicles are predicted to use this technology by 2025. It provides a cost-effective method for automotive manufacturers to meet vehicle emissions targets and lead–acid is currently the battery of choice for this application.

The telecommunications boom is unique because of the fast pace of technology development, which means that networks are requiring almost constant upgrades to the next generation.

The varying speed of adoption across different economies is also prolonging the impact on the point figures or allocate blame; we do not litigate against companies; we want to work with the industry.”

Industrial collaboration She says that the Blacksmith Institute’s collaboration with the International Lead Management Center illustrates this point while it also looks to work with government and other

growth of lead demand. With many countries not yet fully embracing 3G networks — and with 4G still in its infancy — this promises to be a boom sector for the foreseeable future.

“The above factors may more than offset declines in non-battery uses of lead, but the rate of demand growth in China has also been a topic for debate recently,” she says.

“If the e-bike population is reaching saturation, but other vehicles remain unaffordable to the majority of the population, what will drive demand growth going forward?

The inevitable slowdown in demand growth that accompanies every economy as it moves towards maturity will impact on China at some point.”

Matthews’ presentation will address the issues facing lead supply in the short-to-medium term, and evaluate the outlook for the global growth in lead demand.

Importantly, an assessment will be made of the likely impact on lead prices, together with a discussion of the extent to which investors will continue to influence prices going forward. organizations where helpful and appropriate.

“We need to work with the industry for many reasons. For us to start to remediate the contamination, we have to ensure that pollution is not recurring,” she says. “But that is why we are so thrilled to be able to present to the industry at conferences such as the ABC and the ISLC. We can speak

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 41

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Resolving the issues of Remediation, Recovery and Recycling presents unique challenges that not only embraces scientific methodologies, but will include a social dimension to ensure a sustainable future for communities adversely affected by poor lead management directly to the biggest industry players at these events and explain our aims and objectives.”

Avoiding confrontation Block admits that many companies are initially wary of the work her organization does. They are also wary of seeing data and case studies that illustrates how harmful lead can be.

But she says once they also understand how fruitful collaboration can be, they are usually more willing to listen and work with the Blacksmith Institute.

The body is specifically seeking new partners to work with in China, India and Indonesia. Block says the organi-

zation already has good links to the governments of those three countries and is keen to complement this with partners from the private sector.

Wilson confirms that many companies are initially wary of working with such organizations — which is why it is so important they have a presence at events such as the ABC so that they learn that they are not a threat.

“The problem is that other groups such as Greenpeace have bashed away at industry for so long, it makes people wary and people think they will be pilloried and humiliated if they even start to work with such bodies,” he says.

“But that is not true when it comes

FACING UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF LITHIUM The market for lithium ion batteries across Asia is experiencing significant changes across consumer, automotive and industrial segments, according to a recent report by Frost & Sullivan, which argues that one of the major contributing factors is the price reduction of lithium ion batteries due to industry over-capacity and competition.

“The proliferation of new consumer gadgets and rapid strides taken by the battery industry to keep up will also give a strong boost to the market.

“Electric vehicles, which have been on the cusp of strong growth for a while now, are expected to help triple the automotive lithium market. The industrial lithium segment too will grow on the back of stationary energy storage applications,” the report says.

Analysis from Frost & Sullivan in the Asia Pacific Lithium-ion Batteries Market, finds that the market earned approximately $2.21 billion in 2012 and it estimates this could more than double to $4.82 billion by 2017 due to the widening market and product scope.

“New energy storage applications in electric vehicles, grid-connected stationary energy storage, and the higher energy requirements of new consumer gadgets are expected to alter market dynamics. The lithium market has to make the most of these changes and find usage in these application areas,” the report says.

It says that lithium batteries are the preferred energy sources for consumer gadgets such as phones, tablets, MP3 players, next-generation electrically propelled light motor vehicles, and many industrial and commercial applications. In emerging consumer applications such as smart phones and tablets, these are likely to generate high volumes but require technology upgrades to grow faster.

“Patents offer a major competitive advantage in this technologyintensive market, where industry consolidation to gain technology and market advantage is a strong possibility,” says Narain.

“Technology battles leading to pathbreaking products are anticipated to boost sales, reduce prices, and enhance volume demand.”

42 • Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013

to the Blacksmith Institute. They can actually gain a huge amount from such partnerships.”

Caravanos, who is a specialist in lead poisoning, mould contamination, asbestos and community environmental health risks, says it is in the industry’s interests to collaborate on such schemes for other reasons.

“The fact is that unless the health risks surrounding lead are managed, there is always the possibility that some governments will discuss a ban, which would make no sense at all,” he says. “The type of presentation I do focuses on case studies and exposure pathways.

“I look at where it comes from, how it gets into the soil, then into the body and what the health effects can be.

Then we look at the chemical properties of lead and how it can be managed as a substance.”

Common objectives Wilson acknowledges that the Blacksmith Institute and the ILMC are far apart in many ways, yet even coming from different perspectives, their objectives are aligned. “We are far apart in one sense yet are objectives are the same: we do not want lead to be mismanaged and to be causing problems in the environment. So it makes sense to work together.”

Wilson says that the lead industry in some parts of the world more than others has been so focused on growth and technical development, not enough attention has been paid to its effect on the environment and what would happen in the future especially in some emerging markets.

“Some of the material we have will be a real eye-opener for the industry but only good can come out of such dialogue. Big improvements can be made through changing small parts of the process rather than working in the way they have always done.”

He also notes that the collaboration has developed a benchmarking tool that could be used to measure the success of such projects, especially in the developing world where this can be difficult.

Block says she has an additional objective at the event: “I would like to try and identify what it will take for the batteries industry to work more closely with the Blacksmith Institute,” she says. “How do we make this work and get people involved. No one wants to hear stories about how the industry has damaged the health of children or the environment but there www.batteriesinternational.com

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT are also some hard facts the industry should not shy away from.

“So what will it take to get them on board? We recognise the business we are in can cause these problems so how do we improve? There are challenges but how do we overcome these?”

Toxic assessment At the ISLC event precedign the ABC meetings, the three will present separately. Block’s presentation will be called ‘The Rapid Assessment of Environmental Health Risks posed by Secondary Lead Processing Sites using the Toxic Sites Identification Program (TSIP)’.

It will present the efforts to create a comprehensive and uniform global catalogue of waste sites with significant environmental health exposures.

The TSIP is operating in over 47 low and middle-income countries with over 2,000 sites in its database. While numerous chemical hazards and industrial sites are represented, this paper will focus on the locations where there are significant potential exposures and populations at risk from abandoned or poorly managed used lead-acid battery recycling facilities.

Caravanos’s paper to be presented at the ISLC will be called ‘Estimating of the Burden of Disease from Lead Exposures at Toxic Waste Sites in Seven Asian Countries.’

“Resources to remediate industrial sites need to be prioritized such that public health benefits are maximized.

Using data from the Toxic Sites Identification Program, this paper will present methods used to predict adverse health effects from exposures at secondary lead plants and some abandoned used lead-acid battery recycling facilities,” he says.

“The application of scientifically based health outcome data is important to efficiently apply scarce environment remediation resources. A total of 169 sites in seven Asian countries have been assessed with varying environmental conditions.

“The global impact of lead exposure on children’s health will be presented

“The global impact of lead exposure on children’s health will be presented and discussed within a framework for the environmentally sound management of secondary lead processing facilities.

The paper will also discuss opportunities for the lead industry to assist in the work” and discussed within a framework for the environmentally sound management of secondary lead processing facilities. The paper will also discuss the opportunities for the lead industry to assist in the work of the Blacksmith Institute.”

Wilson’s ISLC paper will be called ‘Benchmarking the Key Environmental, Safety and Health Factors that contribute to the ESM of ULAB Recycling.’

“As consumers worldwide increasingly question the provenance of manufactured goods and government agencies step up their examination of

“Some of the material we have will be a real eye opener for the industry but only good can come out of such dialogue. Big improvements can be made through changing small parts of the process rather than working in the way they always have done” www.batteriesinternational.com

industry’s environmental, health, safety and resource management credentials it is important for companies to identify the key environmental benchmarks pertinent to their business or operation and then focus on setting and maintaining their operations in a manner within those parameters,” he says.

“All too often the weight of the legislative burden, particularly in the lead industry, is such that it is not so easy to identify the key benchmarks from the protracted list of environmental standards, occupational health criteria, safety legislation and resource efficiency requirements.

“So this presentation will examine the various recovery phases of used lead acid batteries and identify the key environmental, safety and health factors that determine sound environmental management in a manner that will permit companies to benchmark their environmental performance against the industry norms.”

Batteries International • 15th ABC Show Guide • Summer 2013 • 43

ASIAN BATTERYMEN: L PUGAZHENTHY L Pugazhenthy — better known as “Pug”, among ILZDA’s members and friends in India and overseas — has for the past four decades been at the heart of the lead acid battery community in both his home country and internationally. Kevin Desmond reports.

‘Pug’ and the ILZDA’s crusade for safety The US may boast lead recycling rates in the 95%+ range but in India the rate is close to 100%. Some joke and say 101%. The reason is simple. In a country where poverty is rife every resource of value is cherished. And if it can be used again, it will.

The trouble is that recycling lead — for a long time at least — was likely to be done from a crude smelter in the back yard of a small factory rather than a installation that could ensure the safety and health of its workers.

The India Lead Zinc Development Association has been at the forefront of a campaign to stamp out these dangerous practices and L Pugazhenthy, as head of the organization, has adopted a two-pronged strategy to do this.

The first was to work with the Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as the regulatory boards in introducing environmental legislations and guidelines for an organized collection of used lead batteries. The second has been working with the industry for eco–friendly recycling of these batteries.

Moving the government as well as the industry have proven to be longterm challenges but these initiatives have paid dividends; the recycling industry is ever more streamlined.

L Pugazhenthy — ‘Pug’ to know him well — was born into a middle class, conservative south Indian family on June 5, 1949 in Erode, a provincial city in Tamil Nadu.

“The ‘L’ in my name stands for my father Mr Lakshmanan. He worked in the commercial operations of Indian Railways in the southern parts of the country,” he says. “My mother was a simple but a strict housewife.

Both parents believed in giving their children a permanent asset: a good education. Admitting us into Christian missionary schools in south India

Early days: ‘Pug’ in his 20s

“Converting natural resources into useful metals and alloys and articles of daily usage interested me greatly. So it was perhaps logical that I wanted to become either a metallurgical engineer or a materials scientist.”

44 • Batteries International • ABC supplement • Summer 2013

www.batteriesinternational.com

ASIAN BATTERYMEN: L PUGAZHENTHY gave us a value-based education and sound principles of moral science.”

“Every two years, Indian Railways used to transfer my father from one place to another within the state of Tamil Nadu and so we would change schools. Then in 1962, my father joined a government-owned company at Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the east of India.”

Pug recalls his daily walk through the colourful streets of Kolkata to reach the school and back home. He completed his high school education at this city in 1965, securing a prestigious state grade in the School Final Examination.

“The Ministry of Education gave me a National Merit Scholarship to finance me until my first university degree. The school where I studied also awarded me with numerous prizes. These stimulated me to more and more academic achievements.”

To college In 1966, Pug joined the centuryold Presidency College at Kolkata.

Even today this college is considered the top institution within the state of West Bengal, admitting only the brightest students. That year, the college was closed for several months due to violent, extremist attacks and strikes in that state.

“For me, this was a blessing in disguise,” Pug recalls. “I was able to spend long hours in the American Library, reading the latest overseas books on science, particularly natural science, and geology as well as preparing for my examination from home.” Once again Pug attained the state grade in the pre–university exam. Such success spurred him on to even more achievements in studies.

“However, considering the violent situation in West Bengal, my father decided to send me to South India where peaceful conditions and excellent educational facilities existed.”

Also he now knew the focus of what he wanted to study. “Even from my schooldays, I had become fascinated by geology, mineralogy and crystallography: in particular the extraction of metals, ferrous and non-ferrous, using thermal and electrolytic methods.

Converting natural resources into useful metals and alloys and articles of daily usage interested me greatly.

“So it was perhaps logical that I wanted to become either a metallurgical engineer or a materials scientist.”

Pug’s dream came true with his admission to read metallurgical en-

Part of his work at the ILZDA: to encourage, instruct, assist and lead the industry to a better understanding of the need for first class standards

“Since there was a strong need for a cooperative market development as well as technical development in the lead–zinc using industry, I changed its name to the India Lead Zinc Development Association (ILZDA) and re– oriented its activities” gineering at the prestigious Regional Engineering College (now known as the National Institute of Technology) at Tiruchi, in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Although he was keen on football and cricket and passionate about Carnatic music (the traditional music in south India) in the college, he had a more serious side. His hobbies were reading magazines and articles on international affairs, economic development, marketing management and case studies in management. He was

46 • Batteries International • ABC supplement • Summer 2013

popular with the other students and eventually became vice president of the students association in the institution of some 1,000 students Pug’s obvious skill in helping other students with their grievances, caused them to invite him to become their president when he was in his final year. Pug declined, preferring to spend more time pursuing his studies.

This paid off, and he secured a degree with merit in Metallurgical Engineering in 1972. His specialist www.batteriesinternational.com

ASIAN BATTERYMEN: L PUGAZHENTHY several industrial zinc units using in five European countries,” he says.

“I gained knowledge on advanced practices in die-casting, galvanizing, painting and the like,” he says. “Not long after this, I visited industrial units in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Such opportunities were to prove invaluable and beneficial back in India.”

Meanwhile, Pug had completed his post graduate studies in business management as well as marketing management through distance learning. He also received the Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the All India Management Association.

Pug with the president of India and leading industry figures

Marriage

At one of the many functions that Pug helps represent

“With support from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, we conducted workshops on eco-recycling of lead batteries across the length and breadth of the country” subject: the extractive metallurgy of non-ferrous metals.

But the world of work was already calling. “My father and his generation had always preferred to work in a government-owned company since the jobs there were always secure,” he says. “Despite parental pressure, I had other ambitions. For me the private sector offered immense, fast-moving growth possibilities.

“As luck would have it, one fine evening I received a telegram for an interview with the India Lead Zinc Information Centre in Delhi. These were the days much before the internet. I went to the local office of the Indian Institute of Metals to find out more about the India Lead Zinc Information Centre and its technical activities.”

The centre liked him. So much so, www.batteriesinternational.com

he was surprised when they asked him whether he had arrived with my belongings — ready to start work.

First days in Delhi “Of course I hadn’t so I made the return trip to Kolkata and back to Delhi — 1500km each way — and started work almost immediately as their technical officer. I really enjoyed my work — making technical presentations, writing specialist articles, preparing technical standard specifications, visiting manufacturing units and giving advice to the member companies.”

In 1980, the Confederation of British Industry selected him for a threemonth advanced industrial training course in Essex, UK. “After this training, in a galvanizing– cum– anodizing unit, I spent a nearly month visiting

But love was in the wings. In 1982, he married general medical practitioner — Dr Pennarasi who is known as Dr Penny — at Chennai but she moved to Delhi after our wedding.

“Penny is a very understanding partner as well as a well meaning counsellor,” Pug says. “She is now attached to the obstetrics and gynaecology department in a private sector hospital. We have two sons, Anand who’s 29 and a banker in Melbourne, Australia and Deepak, 25, who works in the insurance sector in an MNC at Delhi. Neither of the sons opted metallurgy or medicine. Wise men!”

Between 1986 and 1989, Pug worked in Delhi as the marketing development manager of a zinc-coated steel sheets company called Nippon Denro Ispat (the company owned by the father of the well known steel giant, L N Mittal).

He spent the next three years working for Essar Steel and later became the director of a newly formed industry body, the Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association in 1992 which he ran successfully until 1997.

But the ILZIC was still in his thoughts and when, that year, the chief executive of India Lead Zinc Information announced he was retiring, he invited Pug to take over.

“With my continuing fascination for lead and zinc as well as non-ferrous metals, I was only too pleased to return to the centre. Since there was a strong need for a cooperative market development as well as technical development in the lead–zinc using industry, I changed its name to the India Lead Zinc Development Association (ILZDA) and re–oriented its activities.

“These were turbulent times. Both the lead and zinc recycling units were

Batteries International • ABC supplement • Summer 2013 • 47

ASIAN BATTERYMEN: L PUGAZHENTHY in the doldrums. This was largely caused by a supreme court ban on the import of used lead batteries and zinc recyclables. So I met the senior officials in both the Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as the Ministry of Mines. I impressed upon them the reduced domestic availability of lead metal and zinc metal, in view of the closure of many recycling units.”

The gentle art And subtle persuasion was needed.

“Zinc, unlike lead, is essential for human health and nutrition,” he says.

“So in my pocket, I used to carry a zinc-containing multivitamin pill called Becozinc. I showed this pill to the officials of these ministries, during our discussions, to prove the point!

“At the same time I also organized an International Conference on Recycling of Lead and Zinc and invited officials from institutions such as the Basel Convention secretariat, UN Environment Program and the like.”

These meetings proved highly effective. “They opened the eyes of government officials and policy planners to what was needed,” he says. “We suggested to the government that they create a technical committee, to give authorization and registration to ecofriendly recycling units for import of lead and zinc recyclables, on a caseby-case basis.”

Pug’s suggestion was accepted. The technical committee came into existence. The closed recycling units resumed their operations, and the availability of lead and zinc also improved within the country.

ILZDA drafted rules for collection of used lead batteries, on the model of the notification by the International Battery Council as well as other countries. The BATTERY (Management and Handling) RULES came into existence in 2001.

As part of this, auctions of used lead batteries by bulk consumers for railways, defence, transport corporations and the like were also regulated so that these recyclables are processed by authorized/registered units only.

As a man with a mission, he soon found that he was needed out on the field of the huge Indian sub-continent “With support from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, we conducted workshops on ecorecycling of lead batteries across the length and breadth of the country,” he says. “At Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Chandigarh in the north, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Coimbatore,

Pug receiving the International Lead Award at the 13th ABC in Macau

“I shall also continue with the same, vigour and initiative, to groom and guide my successor so that the ILZDA flag flies high.”

Cochin in the south. Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur in the east, and Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior in central India.”

Pug had to speak at all the centres, explaining the ministry of environment regulations, guidelines and norms.

As time went by, the results started to be seen.

“Many lead recycling units, which were using coal-fired furnaces, gradually shifted to closed, rotary furnaces,” he says. “And instead of the manual breaking of batteries, mechanized battery breaking systems were introduced in a number of units.

Through the seminars there is also a better awareness of occupational health precautions. Both the lead and zinc recycling sectors are on a sound footing now, with recyclables from overseas as well as within the country being processed safely.

Appreciating the success — and value — of these initiatives, the 2009 Asian Battery Conference at Macau, China awarded Pug with the International Lead Award.

Since 1978, Pug has also been an active member of The Indian Institute of Metals India’s professional body of metallurgists which is similar to the American Society of Metals.

He was the honorary secretary and later vice chairman of the Delhi Chapter of the Indian Institute of Metals.

For his significant contributions to the nonferrous metals industry, the

48 • Batteries International • ABC supplement • Summer 2013

Indian Institute of Metals awarded him the “Hindustan Zinc, Gold Medal” in 2002.

Eventually he became the national vice president of the Indian Institute of Metals during 2005-2008 and in July 2008 he was elected as the national president of this body; it was a prestigious appointment, previous presidents have been captains of industry or leading academics. “This position was truly an honour to the good work done by ILZDA,” he says.

Still more to do But Pug’s work is still unfinished given that the Indian lead market is growing so rapidly. “This increases the need for awareness of safe lead usage practices,” he says. “We must convert the remaining lead recycling units into healthy and eco-friendly operators. We must educate the lead battery manufacturers, especially the SME sector, on new lead alloys, battery technology developments as well as the exploitation of new applications like renewable energy namely solar or wind power.

“I shall also continue with the same, vigour and initiative, to groom and guide my successor so that the ILZDA flag flies high.”

Four decades of continued work in lead and zinc have not diminished or dampened the spirit or passion of Pug, who quietly nods and says. “It has been truly a satisfying and rewarding journey.” www.batteriesinternational.com

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EAGLE Oxide Services 5605 West 74th Street Indianapolis, IN 46278 U.S.A. Tel: +1 (317) 290-8485 eaglesales@eagleoxide.com www.eagleoxide.com

Ball Mills Barton Oxide Systems Litharge Red Lead Hammer Mills Storage Silos Lead Melting Pots Ingot Conveyors Pneumatic/Mechanical Conveying

Sales Office:

MAC Engineering and Equipment 2775 Meadowbrook Road Benton Harbor, MI 49022 U.S.A. Tel: +1 (269) 925-3295 maceng@mac-eng.com www.mac-eng.com

MAC Continuous Pasting Line Your downstream equipment solution for punched or expanded metal

Uncoiler ɻ Paster ɻ Divider ɻ Flash Dry Oven ɻ High Speed Stacker & Rack Handling System MAC Engineering and Equipment Company, Inc. 2775 Meadowbrook Road, Benton Harbor, MI 49022 U.S.A. e-mail: maceng@mac-eng.com / Website: www.mac-eng.com Asia (Sorfin Yoshimura Tokyo, Ltd.) Japan: E-mail: tokyo@sorfin-yoshimura.jp Europe (Sorfin Yoshimura Paris, Ltd.) France: E-mail: paris@sorfin-yoshimura.fr China (Sorfin Yoshimura Qingdao, Ltd.) China: E-mail: qingdao@sorfin-yoshimura.cn Latin America (Sorfin Yoshimura, Ltd.) New York/U.S.A.: E-mail: sorfin@sorfin.com

System Manufacturers: Eagle Oxide Services Indianapolis, Indiana U.S.A. Website: www.eagleoxide.com Email: eaglesales@eagleoxide.com