Enhanced Dental Amalgam Trap

产品说明：（申请人提供）全国各地的城市污水处理厂进行的调查得出结论，10%至70%以上到达工厂的汞来自牙科诊所。这些发现，再加上对汞排放的日益严格的规定，给牙科行业带来了压力，要求他们减少含汞汞合金的排放。 本项目的目标是通过控制分离器内的水化学来提高沉淀型汞合金分离器的性能。牙科废水中的汞一般有三种形式：大颗粒汞合金、细颗粒汞合金和溶解汞。简单的沉降捕集器可以捕获大颗粒和许多细颗粒。然而，胶体颗粒和溶解的汞仍然可以超过 排放限制。目前，需要昂贵且维护密集的吸附剂来实现低ppb范围内的排放浓度。在第一阶段，ADA技术公司表明，可以在沉淀装置中使用安全、廉价的添加剂，以最大限度地减少溶解汞的释放。在第二阶段，我们打算在几个牙科诊所记录这些添加剂的优化版本的有效使用，证明ppb级的汞 浓度，成本显著低于吸附剂基工艺。 拟议的商业应用：美国牙医每年使用约45吨汞用于新的汞合金填充物。 欧洲、加拿大和美国的一些城市限制牙科诊所的汞排放。 北美各地都在等待新的规定。该项目的成功完成将产生一种低成本、经现场验证的汞合金捕集器，能够将牙科废水中的汞减少到十亿分之一的低水平。 ADA技术公司将利用其合作伙伴网络和在牙科废物处理和设备制造方面的经验，将这种增强型陷阱迅速推向市场。

DESCRIPTION: (provided by the applicant) Surveys conducted by municipal wastewater treatment plants across the country have concluded that 10 percent to over 70 percent of the mercury reaching the plants comes from dental offices. These findings, combined with increasingly stringent regulations on mercury discharges, have placed pressure on the dental profession to reduce their discharges of mercury-bearing amalgam. The objective of this project is to enhance the performance of sedimentation-type amalgam separators by controlling the water chemistry within the separator. Dental wastewater contains mercury in three general forms: large particles of amalgam, fine particles of amalgam, and dissolved mercury. Simple sedimentation traps can capture the large particles and many of the fine particles. However, colloidal particles and dissolved mercury can still exceed discharge limits. At present, expensive and maintenance-intensive adsorbents are needed to achieve discharge concentrations in the low-ppb range. During Phase I ADA Technologies showed that safe, inexpensive additives could be used within a sedimentation device to minimize the release of dissolved mercury. In Phase II, we intend to document the effective use of optimized versions of these additives at several dental clinics, demonstrating ppb-level mercury concentrations at costs significantly below those for adsorbent-based processes. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: US dentists use some 45 tons of mercury per year for new amalgam fillings. European, Canadian, and some US municipalities limit dental office discharges of mercury. New regulations are pending across North America. Successful completion of this project would yield a low-cost, field-proven amalgam trap, capable of reducing mercury in dental wastewater to the low parts-per-billion range. ADA Technologies will utilize its network of partners and experience in dental waste treatment and equipment manufacturing to bring this enhanced trap rapidly to the marketplace.