Stabilization of Waste Mercury with Sulfide through the Ball-Mill Method and Heat Treatment

Wei-Sheng Chen, Chien-Ching Chi () and Cheng-Han Lee ()
Additional contact information
Wei-Sheng Chen: Department of Resources Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City 70101, Taiwan
Chien-Ching Chi: Department of Resources Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City 70101, Taiwan
Cheng-Han Lee: Department of Resources Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City 70101, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: Most mercury supplies nowadays are limited due to their toxicity and difficulty in treatment. If mercury is stored inappropriately, it will not only contaminate the environment but also pass along the food chain and eventually to humans. Therefore, addressing mercury waste is crucial for the environment and human health. This study aims to stabilize waste mercury using sulfur powder and generate mercury production through a ball mill and heat treatment. To begin with, sulfur powder, waste mercury (98%) from chemicals, and milling balls will be mixed in this step. The parameters in this process were milling temperature, milling time, ball/material ratio, and milling speed. Under the optimal parameters of 35 °C for milling temperature, 12 h for milling time, 46% for the ball/material ratio, and 300 rpm for milling speed, β-HgS was obtained, and α-HgS was subsequently acquired through dry distillation in a tubular furnace at 600 °C for 3 h. On the other hand, high-purity mercury (99.5%) could be recovered under the circumstances of heating α-HgS with oxygen at 600 °C for 3 h. In a nutshell, waste mercury (98%) could be treated appropriately under the state of α-HgS, and high-purity mercury (99.5%) could be produced and reused for other industries through this research. Both contribute to environmental remediation and resource recovery goals.

Keywords: mercury; sulfur; stabilization; ball mill; ?-HgS; ?-HgS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10333/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10333/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10333-:d:1183346

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().