INVESTIGATION OF THE RECOVERY POTENTIAL OF MERCURY FROM SPENT TUBULAR FLUORESCENT LAMPS BY ELECTROWINNING PROCESS

摘要

In this work the hydrometallurgical extraction of mercury via hypochlorite leaching followed by the electrowinning process was applied, identifying the relevant parameters for high percentage of mercury extraction and mercury recovery potential from spent tubular fluorescent lamps. Mercury could be transferred to the solution (96%) through the NaOCl/NaCl reagent. The electrowinning process provided 98% of the mercury yield using citric acid as the reducing agent. Overall, this combined approach appears to be technically effective for the recovery of mercury (94%) from spent fluorescent lamps.