| This may all your old lights a new life |
|
|
 A dangerous pollutant.
Tons of discarded mercury lamps shipped each day to Hovmantorp in Smaland. But the newly purchased machines can not recycle them efficiently and safely. Now an entirely new process to solve the problem,
It began well. Recycling in Sweden Smaland Hovmantorp got signed on to take care of all light bulbs collected from municipal recycling centers in Sweden.
The company was ready to receive the 3 000 tones a year. New machines were purchased, the premises were expanded and approximately 20 people employed. The out-take last December began on heavy roll in the fluorescent lighting, compact fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps.
But before Christmas saw Ove Pettersson, quality and environmental manager at the company, the equipment did not work.
- The capacity and stability were not good, "he says.
And what was worse so was leaking mercury-containing dust into the room. Two of the employees had elevated levels of harmful heavy metals in blood and urine samples.
Now began a feverish activity to seal leaks, while the staff had to carry protective masks and go on more frequent inspections. At the same time, management began to consider how recycling could be both safer and more efficient by using liquids.
- In a wet process, you avoid the dust, "says Ove Pettersson. The challenge is to recover the different components, although the contamination with mercury in the wet environment.
Moreover, it is difficult to recycle fluids. But Sweden Recycling has produced and empty amalgam separators from dental clinics since the early 1980s.
How to extract mercury from the solvent was nothing new.
Today, running tests in full scale in a closed tank, According to the company are the various materials considerably cleaner from mercury compared to other methods. Moreover, the process is cheaper and has more capacity.
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
