Method and apparatus for collection and analysis of mercury in the atmosphere

Abstract

Method and apparatus for detection of mercury vapor present in environmental atmosphere for the purpose of detecting the degree of environmental mercury pollution that might be present. Environmental air is passed through a bed of fibrous material such as glass wool, the fibers of which are coated with a noble metal, such as silver, capable of extracting mercury vapor from the environmental air. The bed of fibrous material may be placed within a heating chamber where sufficient heat is applied to drive off the collected mercury and a clean and perhaps inert gasiform fluid, such as clean air, nitrogen, argon, etc. is passed through the heating chamber to serve as a carrier for mercury vapor that is driven off of the bed of fibrous material. The mercury vapor laden carrier gas is then cooled and the mercury vapor present in the gas is collected by passing the gas through a screen of nylon mesh that is also coated with the noble metal. The mercury vapor that is collected by the coated nylon mesh may be analyzed with an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer capable of accurately detecting and measuring the amount of mercury present in the sample. The mercury vapor, after being driven off the bed of fibrous material, may be cooled and transported directly through a gas analyzer, such as a flameless atomic absorption analyzer with a mercury lamp, for ultra-violet absorption using the 2357A mercury line.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.