Efficient treatment of slurries containing mercury
The DELA vacuum mixer allows slurries containing mercury to be treated efficiently and almost emission-free.
Under vacuum, the boiling temperature of the water and mercury contained in the slurries is lowered. The lower boiling temperature and the permanent forced mixing of the slurries in the mixer lead to an optimised energy yield and therefore an extremely efficient treatment process.
The 2-stage method has proven expedient when treating slurries containing mercury which have high levels of water and hydrocarbons: In the first process phase, the water and most of the existing hydrocarbons evaporate. The quantitative evaporation of the mercury only takes place in the second process phase at the maximum treatment temperature. This is condensed separately from the water and hydrocarbons and can be removed from the process.
Brief profile of the system
| Special aspect | Vacuum distillation procedure in combination with continuous forced mixing |
| Annual capacity | Approx. 3.000 tonnes |
| Throughput | 0.5 to 1.0 tonnes an hour |
| Process | Vacuum distillation |
| Exhaust air | Vapour precipitator for filtering out dusts, exhaust air volumes < 20 Nm³/h |
| Input | Slurries containing mercury from the production of chlorine and natural gas exploration |
| Output | Mercury, water, hydrocarbons, Mineral solids or active carbon |
