With more countries passing laws to ban the old type of incandescent bulb if favour of the CFL (the mercury bearing energy saver), the bulb which no one likes, there will be more mercury coming through our waste stream in the future when these are disposed of.
In order to get mercury from the powder it is necessary to heat it to a predefined temperature, for a considerable length of time (upto 24 hours). As one of the UK's largest lamp recyclers, the Balcan lamp recycling facility uses a specialist company (who deal with all types of mercury waste) to do this on their behalf, but have been told out of approx 1000Kg of mercury bearing phosphor powder <1.0Kg of mercury is obtained.
It is important that if the system can used with different types of mercury waste the recycling costs involved maybe offset by the easier to recycle and more heavily contaminated mercury wastestream, however the phosphor powder contains approx 12% rare earth metals which now have a significant valueand there are companies who have invested heavily in equipment to recover these.
Do you need a Retort Distiller?
Balcan produce specialist lamp recycling systems and do not manufacture a retort distiller for the mercury extraction. We prefer to source and recommend companies who are specialists in their field. To be recommended by Balcan we assess each product against a number of criteria, including running cost, ease of handling, potential risks associated with the products, etc.
If you are going to invest in a retort in order to complete a full recycling loop yourself then Balcan suggests you contact Effective Energy Associates LLC in the US, contact rjabele@sprintmail.com .
The NEW alternative to a retort distiller
There are now real alternatives to having to invest and operate your own retort for waste lamps. These retorts are expensive and require close monitoring. When used purely for lamp powder we do not believe they offer a return on investment, but rather enable the claim that the total lamp is recycled and the mercury collected. Removing the mercury from the powder does increase the recycling rate and it is the mercury content which is what everyone refers to when requiring lamps to be recycled. Removing it removes the hazard.
However, alternatives take recycling rates to a new level. Specialist companies, e.g. Rhodia in France have investment is developing a system to recover the rare earth metal content from the phosphor powder and the first stage is to also remove the mercury. This accounts for approximately 12% of the volume. These rare earths have a significant value and are in short supply as the Chinese have banned the export of them, thus increaing a supply shortage.
With the rare earth metals having a significant value it may now be possible to reduce or eliminate the phosphor powder disposal because companies are wanting it. We consider the cost can be reduced between 50-100% depending on the outlet.
