Extraction of mercury and mercury compounds from contaminated material and solutions
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorDonald F. Foust
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Abstract
Mercury and mercury-containing compounds can be removed from soil, sand, and similar materials by a remediation method in which the contaminated material is treated with an aqueous composition comprising an oxidant, such as iodine, and a complexing or solubilizing agent, such as potassium iodide, the liquid and solid phases are separated, and further processed as needed.
Claims5
A process for removing mercury from mercury contaminated solid materials which comprises treating the contaminated materials with an aqueous extractant-composition comprising an oxidizing agent in an amount sufficient to oxidize elemental mercury to the mercuric oxidation state and a complexing agent in an amount sufficient to form a water-soluble complex with mercuric compounds and separating the aqueous extractant composition from the solid materials.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.