Enhanced Dental Amalgam Trap

描述：(由申请人提供)全国市政污水处理厂进行的调查得出结论，到达工厂的汞有10%至70%以上来自牙科诊所。这些发现，再加上对汞排放的日益严格的监管，给牙科专业带来了减少含汞汞合金排放的压力。 本项目的目标是通过控制沉降型汞齐分离器内的水化学来提高分离器的性能。牙科废水中的汞一般有三种形式：大颗粒汞齐、细汞齐颗粒和溶解汞。简单的沉淀捕捉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，需要昂贵且需要大量维护的吸附剂才能达到低ppb范围内的放电浓度。在第一阶段，ADA技术公司表明，可以在沉淀设备中使用安全、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，我们打算在几家牙科诊所记录这些添加剂的优化版本的有效使用，展示ppb级别的汞。 浓缩的成本大大低于基于吸附剂的工艺。 拟议的商业应用：美国牙医每年使用约45吨汞作为新的汞合金填充物。欧洲、加拿大和美国的一些市政当局限制牙科诊所汞的排放。北美各地都在等待新的法规出台。该项目的成功完成将产生一种低成本、经过现场验证的汞齐捕集器，能够将牙科废水中的汞降低到十亿分之几的低水平。Ada Technologies将利用其在牙科废物处理和设备制造方面的合作伙伴网络和经验，将这种增强型捕集器迅速推向市场。

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.