Inventors:
Youssef El-Shoubary - North Brunswick NJ
William F. Lavosky - Brielle NJ
Subash C. Seth - Watchung NJ
Ned A. Speizer - Brick NJ
Assignee:
Merck & Co., Inc. - Rahway NJ
International Classification:
C22B 4300
Abstract:
The present invention relates to a process for cleaning mercury-contaminated soils that is simple, efficient and safe to use. This process can also be used to clean soils contaminated with additional metals, such as zinc, copper and lead, at a lower pH. The present invention involves screening the contaminated soil to remove unwanted materials, leaching the contaminated soils with hypochlorite in a screw reactor, thickening, leaching with hypochlorite and sodium chloride, thickening again and then separating the mercury-containing liquids from the clean soil. This invention also relates to a process which uses sulfide to treat the mercury-containing liquids.