METHOD OF RECYCLING FLUORESCENT LAMPS AND MERCURY-CONTAINING DEVICES Russian patent published in 2013 - IPC C09K11/01 C22B43/00 H01J9/52 

FIELD: chemistry.

SUBSTANCE: method involves breaking down said lamps and devices, grinding, heating, evacuating the scrap lamps in a chamber and subsequent condensation of mercury vapour in cooled traps with successive sealing of all processes, wherein a batch of lamps and devices is broken down right away; grinding is carried out to particle size of not more than 20 mm, destruction and extraction of mercury is carried out at temperature of 150-200°C and a vacuum of up to 10 Pa and holding for 30 minutes; a second step for cleaning the scrap with a washing liquid (1 N sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid solution) is carried out, followed by separation of sockets and scrap glass. When filling the chamber with scrap lamps with washing liquid, circulation mixing is carried out for at least 5 minutes. After separating from the scrap, the washing liquid is subjected to filtration and thermal decomposition to metallic mercury at temperature higher than 500°C. Separation of cleaned sockets and scrap glass is carried out by sieving through a sieve with different cell size under vibration action.

EFFECT: high efficiency and environmental friendliness of the process, efficiency of extracting mercury while reducing power consumption.

5 cl, 6 ex