Lead-acid remains the most economical and practical type of battery for materials handling and other battery powered vehicles.

Up to the 1940s batteries were generally being fitted with plate separators made out of thin wood veneer - but it became necessary for manufacturers to switch to new types of synthetic materials. This, however, caused batteries to perform less efficiently through loss of capacity and it was only then realized for the first time that wood actually contains a substance essential for proper lead-acid battery functioning. The substance was identified as the structural ingredient in the darker parts of wood, called lignin.

Ever since this discovery manufacturers have been finding it necessary to include a small percentage of suitably processed form of wood lignin, called ligno-sulfonate, also known as an expander, as a supplement to the negative plates of the batteries, (References 1,2,3,4 below.)

Batteryvitamin can be described as an extension to ligno-sulfonate technology and is also able to go to work at the negative plates - generally at a much lower concentration. The raw materials that go into the making of Batteryvitamin are mainly obtained from common dye feedstocks, combined with suitable vegetable oils and processed in a way to make Batteryvitamin soluble in water and in battery acid. In order to work, Batteryvitamin needs to be applied on a regular basis and it is convenient to do this in combination with the normal filling-up water to achieve this requirement. Treatment can help to significantly extend battery life, (see Graphs 1 & 2 , 3 & 4. )

REFERENCES:

1. VINAL, GW, "Storage Batteries", (John Wiley & Sons, New York, Third Edition 1940), p26, pp 45-54.

2. BODE, H "Lead Acid Batteries", (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1977), pp 243, 313, 337.

3. BARAK, M, "Handbook of Batteries", (The Institution of Electrical Engineers, London & New York, 1980), p 231.

4. COSGROVE, J P, "Lignin and Lignosulfonates", (109 Convention - Battery Council International, May, 1999.)