Mercury spill

Mercury spills should be cleaned up immediately by use of a special vacuum cleaner. The area should then be washed with a dilute calcium sulfide solution. Small quantities of mercury can be picked up by mixing with copper metal granules or powder, or with zinc granules or powder. To avoid or minimize spills, some plants use steel trays as pallets so that a spih, whether of mercury or a mercury compound, is contained on the steel tray. 

In the profiles of the core from the industrial area, mercury displays the highest accumulation. Mercury in this area, close to the industrial district, has probably derived from a large chloralkali plant which has employed mercury cathodes since the fifties. Whereas, at present, very severe measures are taken to prevent mercury spills into the Lagoon, in the past, polluted waters and solid materials were discharged almost untreated. In the most superficial strata a marked decrease in the accumulations is, in fact, recorded. Lead and Cd accumulations are lower here by a factor of 5-10. The presence of cadmium in the sediments of the Lagoon has been referred to sphalerite (ZnS) processing on the basis of a strict concomitant... 

Mercury is toxic, the vapor from mercury is toxic, mercury spilled breaks into tiny globules that evaporate easily and are toxic, it ll alloy with your... 

If a mercury spill occurs, it is very important to ventilate the area and not use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the mercury. A vacuum cleaner will only warm and disperse the mercury in the room. Collect all the mercury and place in a sealed container and take it to an appropriate disposal site. If it is a large spill, professionals must be called. Table 8.2 lists some of the more common sources of metallic mercury. 

Zeitz, P., Orr, M. F. and Kaye, W. E. (2002). Public health consequences of mercury spills Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance system, 1993-1998. Environ Health Perspect, 110(2), 129-132. 

Polarography has been largely replaced by voltammetry with electrode materials that do not present the toxicity hazard of mercury. Principles described for the mercury electrode apply to other electrodes. Mercury is still the electrode of choice for stripping analysis, which is the most sensitive voltammetric technique. For cleaning up mercury spills, see note 18. 

To clean a mercury spill, consolidate the droplets with a piece of cardboard. Then suck the mercury into a filter flask with an aspirator. A disposable Pasteur pipet attached to a hose makes a good vacuum cleaner. To remove residual mercury, sprinkle elemental zinc powder on the surface and dampen the powder with 5% aqueous H2S04 to make a paste. Mercury dissolves in the zinc. After working the paste into contaminated areas with a sponge or brush, allow the paste to dry and sweep it up. Discard the powder as contaminated mercury waste. This procedure is better than sprinkling sulfur on the spill. Sulfur coats the mercury but does not react with the bulk of the droplet [D. N. Easton, Management and Control of Hg Exposure, Am. Lab., July 1988, p. 66],... 

The inorganic material that probably poses the greatest risk to General Chemistry students is the liquid metal, mercury. One way to reduce the level of mercury vapor in the laboratory would be to have the instructor do some of the experiments as demonstrations. Any metallic mercury that must be kept in the laboratory should be stored in covered containers, so that there are no open pools, and mercury spills should be cleaned up immediately. 

A mercury spill occurs in an unventilated stockroom with some of the mercury trapped in several floor cracks. What is the maximum concentration of mercury that can be attained in the storeroom when the temperature is 23°C If the Federal standard permissible exposure limit for mercury in the air is 0.1 mg/m3, is the maximum concentration of mercury in the air acceptable ... 

Work on a vacuum system requires preliminary review of procedures and careful execution in order to avoid damage to the apparatus and possible injmy from broken glass in addition, the liquid nitrogen used for cold traps must be handled properly (see Appendix C). Safety glasses must be worn. In the event of breakage, any mercury spill must be cleaned up promptly and carefully as described in Appendix C. Avoid contact with the hot furnace or hot bath oil. 

A mercury spill occurs in an unventilated stockroom with some of the mercury... 

When mercury does spill, a thorough cleanup is necessary, and various commercial spill kits are available. Scrubbing with an aqueous solution of sodium thiosulfate has been reported to work well. A written set of work procedures and personal protective equipment should be considered in situations where mercury spills can occur. 

Bickis U (2001) All that glisters is not gold mercurial spills, chills,. .. and learnings Chemical Health and Safety 8 19-24. 

Individuals that Use Mercury in Religious Ceremonies and/or Ethnic Practices or Live in Dwellings where Intentional or Unintentional Elemental Mercury Spills have Occurred. 

Muhlendahl KE. 1990. Intoxication from mercury spilled on carpets. Lancet 336 (8730) 1578. 

Mercury is a very useful chemical, and if handled properly, can be used routinely without fear. There is no need to shut down a laboratory because of a mercury spill. Clean it up immediately and continue. However, if spillage is not cleaned up, the vapors can cause chronic metal poisoning after prolonged exposure (Table 6-2). An extreme example is the old-time Hatter s disease. This occurred when hat makers treated beaver fur with HgfNOj), to permit the fiir to kink into felt. After continued exposure, the hatters often got the shakes. Anyone who shook was mad as a hatter. Mereurous compounds are much less soluble than mercuric compounds. In fact, a spoonful of calomel (Hg2Cl2) often was given... 

Mercury scoops should be used to clean up larger amounts. If mercury spills into cracks in the floor, then a disposable pipet connected to a vacuum pump can be used. Nitric acid will dissolve it, and powdered sulfur will slowly react with it to reduce the vapor concentration in the room. Many commercial kits are now available to handle Hg spills. The one shown in Figure 6-13, p. 65, contains a scoop, a powder to amalgamate the Hg, four jars of absorbent for small drops, a vapor absofbent for areas not reachable, and an indicator to indicate places that may have been missed. 

Good housekeeping practices will assure the safest working conditions in the laboratory. Always clean up spilled chemicals do not leave broken or chipped glassware lying around and put away all chemical bottles and apparatus when finished with them. Neutralize acid spills with sodium bicarbonate and alkali spills with boric acid. Mercury spills should be vacuumed up with a suction flask or dusted with sulfur powder. Clean up the mercury thoroughly because mercury vapors from fine droplets are highly toxic. 

Although a thin fihn of oxide will form on the skin of mercury droplets, it is very fragile and will break. Similarly, sprinkling flowers of sulfur on the location of a mercury spill has been suggested as a control measure but the surface film which forms also apparently is also very fragile and will allow the mercury underneath the fihn to be readily exposed. 

Wherever possible, work with mercury should be done in a fume hood, preferably one that has a depressed surface, so that a hp wiU aid in preventing mercury spills from reaching the floor, and with a seamless interior, as recommended for radiological work and work with perchloric acid. As noted earher, heating mercury causes it to emit fumes at concentration levels two to three orders of magnitude above the PELs. Heating of mercury shorild never be done on the open bench. 

To treat a mercury spill, a better solution is to use some absorbent such as Mer-con (composition not fully disclosed), HgX (a mixture of sodium thiosulfate and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), Mercsorb (zinc, citric acid, sulfur, and silica gel) or Mercurisorb (silver nitrate on silica gel). The last one is the most expensive and the most efficient at the same time. This substance is a silver-containing silicate,... 

A. Santoro (2006) Mercury spill decontamination incident at the Roekefeller University. J. Chem. Health Safety, 13, 30-31. 

This incident shows why we have moved away from using devices with mercury. Learn more the hazards of mercury spills in Incident 6.2.2.1.)... 

While there are spill kits for mercury, you should seek professional assistance in cleaning up mercury spills. Unless you have been specifically trained in cleaning up hydrofluoric acid, mercury, or other reactive chemicals, you should not attempt to deal with these spills yourself. Seek professional assistance, usually the environmental, health, and safety department of your institution. These spills are especially hazardous and require more experience. 

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