Elemental Mercury removal from water

[fugacity19]

I am working on the design for a type of reactor that uses elemental mercury as a liquid seal in the bottom.

On occasion, the reactor will have to be washed, and droplets on mercury will get washed away with the rinse water. Because of this, I also have to design a mercury treatment process.

My question is, what types of technology are out there for treating elemental mercury in water. Most of the technologies I have come across to treat mercury are for Hg(II) or inorganic mercury, not elemental mercury. These technologies included precipitation and adsorption by activated carbon.

I realise elemental mercury has a low solubility into water, so settling would remove most of the mercury. My question involves the mercury that is dissolved. Will activated carbon also adsorb elemental mercury? Is there a technology that will adsorb elemental mercury?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[GarySCWSVI]

The company I work for, The Purolite Company, manufactures a product for Mercury Removal. Purolite S920 is a macroporous polystyrenic based chelating resin, with thiouronium groups designed for the selective removal of mercury.and for the recovery of precious metals from the industrial effluents.

You can see more detail on our web site at:



Gary Schreiber, CWS VI
The Purolite Co.