Baterpol S.A., headquartered in Katowice (ul. Obrońców Westerplatte 108), collects and recycles battery scrap, lead scrap and lead-bearing materials, and produces refined lead, lead alloys and sodium sulphate; according to the KRS, its main activity is the production of lead, zinc and tin. The company is registered in the Polish National Court Register under KRS 0000373339; it has operated as a joint-stock company since 2010, following the conversion of Baterpol sp. z o.o. Its sole shareholder is Polski Cynk sp. z o.o. Operations are carried out at two plants: the Battery Scrap Processing Plant in Świętochłowice and the Lead Plant in Katowice.
Battery scrap is processed on lines supplied by the Italian company Engitec Technologies using CX technology: after the batteries are broken, the electrolyte is recovered and the solids are separated by flotation into a metallic fraction, polypropylene, lead paste and separators. The paste is desulphurised (sulphur content falls from around 8% to a maximum of 1%), and the resulting solution is processed into crystalline sodium sulphate with a purity above 99.5%. The metallic fraction and the paste are smelted in automated rotary-tilting furnaces (BJ Industries), and the crude lead is refined in kettles. The company produces refined lead in grades Pb 985 R, Pb 970 R and Pb 940 R, as well as lead alloys with Sb, Sn, Ca, Se, Cu, Ag and other elements to customer specifications.
The solutions used close the battery recycling loop and allow more than 95% of the battery scrap mass to be put to economic use: lead goes mainly to battery manufacturers, sodium sulphate to the chemical, glass, paper and textile industries, and polypropylene to plastics processors. The company buys battery scrap, lead drosses and sludges from all over Poland, collecting them with its own fleet adapted to transporting hazardous waste; its R&D focuses on process encapsulation and higher material recovery, among other things. It holds ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certificates. As an IGMNiR member, Baterpol represents lead-acid battery recycling and secondary lead production in the Chamber.