The BCI Innovation Award in honor of Sally Breidegam Miksiewicz recognizes innovations within the lead battery industry that align with the guidelines of sustainability, safety, cost, performance, uniqueness and value.
The BCI Innovation Award in honor of Sally Breidegam Miksiewicz recognizes innovations within the lead battery industry that align with the guidelines of sustainability, safety, cost, performance, uniqueness and value.
Every year, hundreds of innovations occur within the lead battery industry – from packaging and technology to equipment, chemistry and beyond. The goal of the BCI Innovation Award is to collect all of these innovations and showcase them to both the industry and the public.
The award was established to honor industry thought leader, Sally Breidegam Miksiewicz, former CEO of East Penn Manufacturing Co.
The following guidelines should be considered when submitting an innovation. Entries do not need to align with all guidelines. Providing multiple supporting documents that align with these guidelines will give judges additional insight and clarity on your submission.
The award recognizes Gopher Resource’s patent-pending SCRUM process, or Slag Cleaning and Recovery of Useful Metals process. The SCRUM process uses furnace fuming technology to separate the tin and lead into a concentrated fume form with very high selectivity and efficiency, leaving behind a “cleaned” bulk iron sodium-silicate “SCRUM Slag.”
Gopher Resource’s innovative process separates 99% of useful metals from lead blast furnace slags, producing LME-grade tin and lead bullion that can be refined and used in new batteries. The remaining SCRUM Slag is an environmentally-friendly byproduct that can be repurposed and shows promising potential for commercialization. The ability to recover these metals from lead battery recycling slag in a safe, economically feasible way is an industry first.
Gopher Resource is an industry leading environmental solutions provider focused on transforming waste lead batteries into reusable materials. The company is committed to protecting the environment and contributing to a circular economy by creating innovative solutions that further the battery recycling industry’s goals of waste minimization, water reuse and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation.
Daramic received an honorable mention for their submission.
Thank you to all companies that submitted innovations.
The high recycling rate of U.S. lead batteries means a large percent of U.S. lead battery manufacturing supply chain inputs (73% of its lead) are sourced from domestic recyclers.