OXIDATION OF MERCURY TO MERCURIC AND MERCUROUS SALTS

摘要

A process for oxidizing metallic mercury to mercuric or mercuric salt, said procedure comprising the operation of reacting said metallic mercury with an organic acid, said organic acid being selected from the group consisting of HCOOH, RCOOH and RSO3H, where R is or a cyclic or acyclic hydrocarbyl group saturated from C, to Cro or a partially or completely halogenated saturated hydrocarbyl group, in the presence of air or oxygen and a catalyst characterized as follows: Mw (NxOy) z, where M is selected from the group consisting of NH4, C1-C6-tetra-alcohol-ammonium, C1-C6-tetra-alcohol-phosphonium, hydrogen and any metal cations defined by Groups I-VIII of the Periodic Table of the Elements; w varies from 0 to 2, x is 1 or 2, and varies from 1 to 5, and z varies from 1 to 4. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)