Removal and recovery of heavy metals from earth, sludges and waterways - by amalgamation and sedimentation of esp. mercury@, nickel@ and cobalt@ and their cpds., by addn. of powered zinc@ or aluminium@
Heavy meatls, esp. Hg or its cpds. and salts of Ni and Co and their cpds., are removed from earth, sludges and waterways by a process in which the heavy metals and/or their cpds. undergo amalgamation in aqueous suspensions of said earth, sludge or water, and are removed by sedimentation. Pref., amalgamation is caused by the addn. of powdered Zn, Al or their alloys to the suspension, which is subjected to ultrasonic radiation during amalgamation. USE/ADVANTAGE - As well as removal from contaminated earth, etc., recovery of pure forms of Hg and other substances is also possible.