WorldWide Drilling Resource

Mines Testing New Polymer for Mercury Remediation Compiled by Bonnie Love, Editor, WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Thanks to university researchers in South Australia, there’s a new tool for cleaning mercury pollution from soil, water, and even the air. Mercury has been a well-known environmental pollutant for decades. It is a neurotoxin and is considered by the World Health Organization as one of the top ten chemicals or groups of chem- icals of major public health concern. Mercury pollution threatens the health of millions of people around the world. It has toxic effects on the nervous, digestive, and immune systems. In severe cases, it can even cause irreversible brain damage. Researchers with Flinders University have discovered a way to use cooking oil and sulphur to extract mercury from the environment. The new canola oil polymer is capable of trapping the most dangerous and common types of mercury pollution - mercury metal, mercury vapor, and highly toxic organomercury compounds - which harm both aquatic and terrestrial systems. Award-winning scientist Dr. Justin Chalker with Flinders said, “Our pre- vious research studied a single type of inorganic mercury, so this is a signif- icant advance.” In the latest pioneering new technology, Dr. Chalker and fel low re- searchers from around the world combined second-hand cooking oil and sulphur - a common, low-cost byproduct from the oil and gas industry - to produce a new kind of polymer. The process actually solves two problems, cleaning up mercury pollution and recycling industrial waste. Currently, the process is being tested in field trials at mining sites and areas where mercury-based fungicides are used. According to Dr. Chalker, the latest development will enhance future sustainability and environmental protection, with few remediation meth- ods readily and affordably available. “Mercury is encountered in several industrial activities including oil and gas refining and coal combustion,” he stated. “Alarmingly, mercury and mercury-containing materials are still used intentionally at many chloralkali plants and in artisanal gold mining. Additionally, mercury-based fungicides are still used in certain agricultural sectors.” One of the largest sources of mercury emissions globally is artisanal gold mining. In this practice, mercury metal is used to extract gold from the surrounding ore. The mercury-gold mixture is then heated, often with a hand torch or on a cooking stove, to vaporize the mercury and isolate the gold. The mercury-rich tailings and exposure to mercury vapor threaten the health of the nearly 15 million people involved in this process. The research was led by Dr. Chalker and Flinders University students Max Worthington, Renata Kucera, and several researchers from the Flinders Centre for NanoScale Science and Technology. Key contributions were made by senior col laborators at the Uni vers i ty of Camb r i dge and t he I ns t i t u t e f o r Molecular Medicine in Lisbon, Portugal, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S., Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the Uni vers i ty of Melbourne in Australia. Recently, Dr. Chalker made a busi- ness pitch for the commercialization of the new polymer and was awarded $5000. The mercury-binding polymer is licensed for sale to Kerafast a U.S. com- pany based in Boston. This reagent company focuses on making unique laboratory-made research tools easily accessible to the global scientific com- munity. After absorbing mercury pollution, the rubber-like polymer changes color, indicating the job is done. More of the affordable polymer mixture can then be placed in the area to continue to process. Dr. Justin Chalker with postgraduate students Salah Alboaiji, Max Worthington (with sulfur material) and Renata Kucera. 12 APRIL 2018 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®