Posted on 06/27/2008 1:57:36 PM PDT by blam
Researchers create mercury-absorbent container linings for broken CFLs
Brown University engineering students Love Sarin (left) and Brian Lee display a nanoselenium-enriched cloth that can capture mercury vapor from broken compact fluorescent lamps. Brown has applied for federal patents covering the invention and plans soon to begin commercial negotiations. Credit: John Abromowski, Brown University
With rising energy prices and greater concern over global warming, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are having a successful run. Sales of the curlicue, energy-sipping bulbs, which previously had languished since they were introduced in the United States in 1979, reached nearly 300 million last year. Experts expect that figure to rise steeply by 2012, when a federal law requiring energy-efficient lighting goes into effect.
There's just one catch to this energy conservation story: Each CFL contains a small amount (3 to 5 milligrams) of mercury, a neurotoxin that can be released as vapor when a bulb is broken. The gas can pose a minor risk to certain groups, such as infants, small children and pregnant women. Mercury can escape from plastic bags containing discarded bulbs, which makes long-term storage, disposal or recycling tricky.
The obstacles have led to a debate over CFLs, illustrated by recent studies by the state of Maine and the nonprofit Mercury Policy Project over CFL use and safe levels of mercury in the bulbs. Now, a team of researchers at Brown University led by Robert Hurt, professor of engineering, and engineering student Natalie Johnson may have found a solution to the environmental conundrum.
The scientists, along with other Brown engineering students and Steven Hamburg, associate professor of environmental studies, have invented mercury-absorbent materials for commercial use. The team has created a prototype – a mercury-capturing lining attached to the inside of store-bought CFL packaging. The packaging can be placed over the area where a bulb has been broken to absorb the mercury vapor emanating from the spill, or it can capture the mercury of a bulb broken in the box.
The researchers also have created a specially designed lining for plastic bags that soaks up the mercury left over from the CFL shards that are thrown away.
The mercury-absorbent packaging and the lined plastic bags can be safely discarded and recycled, the researchers say, alleviating concerns about contamination or other unwanted environmental consequences.
"It's a complete management system to deal with a bulb broken in the home," says Hurt, director of Brown's Institute for Molecular and Nanoscale Innovation, which concentrates on the study and commercial application of nanotechnology.
Brown applied earlier this year for federal patents covering the mercury-absorption packaging and the absorbent material, and the university expects soon to begin discussions with companies on manufacturing the new technology.
"These patents represent how Brown University translates fundamental research into an application that can have an impact on society – in this case, a technology that could protect households from mercury exposure and that could also energize green business growth," says Clyde Briant, vice president for research at Brown.
The inspiration for the invention followed the discovery by Hurt, Johnson and fellow Brown researchers that a variant of a substance called nanoselenium – a form of selenium, a trace element used in diet supplements, among other products – absorbed virtually all the mercury emitted from a broken CFL. That finding appears this week in the online edition of Environmental Science & Technology. It is the first scientific paper that measures the timing and extent of mercury released from broken CFLs and that reveals the mercury-absorption potential of various nanomaterials, the researchers say.
The engineers tested 28 substances in all. Their experiments showed that one type of nanoselenium absorbed mercury vapor the most effectively. The selenium atoms bond with the mercury atoms to form mercury selenide (HgSe), a stable, benign nanoparticle compound, Hurt says.
The nanoselenium "just loves mercury," Hurt adds.
In controlled experiments, the scientists found that 99 percent of mercury vapor from a CFL broken in a sealed chamber was mopped up by nanoselenium in concentrations ranging from 1 to 5 milligrams.
The small amount needed to capture the mercury vapor bodes well for manufacturing mercury-absorbent cloths or lining at a low cost, Hurt says. The precise manufacturing costs will need to be determined by interested companies.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Basic Research Program funded the research.
The first prototype created by the Brown team is a three-layered cloth that is attached to the packaging or box containing the CFLs. The nanoselenium-coated layer would be sandwiched between the cardboard packaging and a cloth on the inside of the box containing the bulbs. The extra layers prevent people from coming into contact with the nanoselenium layer.
If a bulb breaks, the user simply undoes the packaging and lays it on the spot where the break occurred. The absorbent material is effective on different surfaces, including carpets and hardwood floors. "It works like a charm," Hurt says.
The second prototype incorporates the same layering and is fitted into a small, sealable plastic bag. The lining absorbs the mercury in the sealed bag, preventing it from escaping.
"More work is needed," Hurt says, "but this appears to be an inexpensive solution that can remove most of the safety concerns associated with CFL bulbs."
Source: Brown University
I heard Glenn Beck say on his radio program today that by 2012, his whole attic would be stuffed with incandescent bulbs, lol.
Anyway....
By 2015, the EPA will be reporting on the high levels of mercury contamination at sanitary land fills. Let’s face it, people are going to throw out their spent CFLs just like they do current light bulbs.
One more thing to consider is that CFLs cannot be dimmed. So, if you have dimmer wall switches, better get a supply of bulbs now as CFLs do not dim. All those folks who like to dim their patio, living room and bedroom lights to fit the mood, or just reduce the glare, will be out of luck.
One more thing, those advertised hours of bulb life are bogus. Never had one yet that even came close. The ones they sell as flood lights, which are simply a CFL enclosed in a standard flood light shell, last only about 20 to 25% of the advertised life. I suspect it is the heat build-up inside the flood light shell that causes premature failure.
On bulb life, I read something recently that the “years” they last is based upon no more than 2 hours a day of use.
I have broken many a lightbulb in my life. Never once in a sealed chamber.
While 99% may be contained in the sealed chamber test. In the real world it is closer to zero. Especially after you have to hunt around for 20 minutes trying to remember where you put the "OH My God! I broke a CFL" bags.
You know what i find funny ?
When i was a wee tyke me Grandfather serviced old radios and tv’s Murcury bulbs and all i had jars of Murcury to play with i played with it all the time all the neighborhood kids played with it we took it to school on the bus everywhere we went for at least a couple of years of my young life maybe more we played with Murcury.
None of my freinds are sick from it i’m not sick from it no one i know has ever had Murcury poisoning and im talking large jars of murcury at least 4 pounds worth it was all over when i was a kid.
I think this controversy is a farce at least thats my point of veiw ....
It depends. Some are better than others. Most of them that I have appear to last quite a while. I’m coming up on 7 years with one of them in my living room.
That said, people should be able to buy what they wish. I just happen to like my CFLs
That's the reason. Don't use them enclosed or on a dimmer unless they specifically say you can. It took me a couple of years of incandescent bulbs blowing out and replacing them with CFLs before almost all of mine were CFL. Since then, almost five years, I've had to replace the few remaining incandescents again but only lost one CFL.
Pure elemental mercury is not a toxin. It is only poisonous it chemical combines into a soluble form such as the chloride or the methyl.
Me too...all while chewing on lead fishing weights, really.
We spend many hours fighting to get Mercury OUT of our homes, now th Government is requiring us to put it back in!
How pathetic in a free country?
” Murcury “
Excessive exposure to mercury causes spelling errors. This is the voice of experience. I chased a ball of mercury around on my desk in high school about 53 years ago and can’t spell worth a darn since then.
Agree, we've had some now going on at least 3 years, and are used all the time. Plus they give off little or no heat. We've seen the difference in our bills, much lower.
We even replaced all our night lights with LEDs..And we stopped burning outside lights 365 nights per year, and went with motion detectors. That alone has saved us upwards of 200 bucks per year.
“One more thing to consider is that CFLs cannot be dimmed.”
Some of them are dimmable. I lost that argument on a thread a few months ago. A poster sent me several sites that offered dimmable cfls.
http://tinyurl.com/54g7p3
“..mercury vapor from broken compact fluorescent lamps.”
The whole idea of replacing incandescent light bulbs with dangerous mercury vapor fluorescent lamps is proof that the environmentalists really do not give a damn about the safety of the public.
All they want to do is to promote their marxist agenda for world domination. They seem more alarmed about the welfare of supposed endangered species than with the wellbeing of the general public, but even that seeming apprehension is a downright lie.
Fools.... LED lighting will replace CFL lightbulbs long before 2012.
You are probably correct...I'm a retired chip-maker and should have thought of that too.
I want to add we didn’t wear helmets when we rode bikes, we did play with stick swords, and we kept score when we played sports.
This is all about c o n t r o l. It’s just that simple.
Next week they are coming out with a built in vacuum cleaner in each bulb; cost, $69.98 each bulb.
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