Removal of mercury derivatives from polluted water

汞及其衍生物，特别是有机汞（甲基汞）是水和废水中毒性最大的污染物之一。汞自然存在于环境中，以不同的无机和有机形式存在。美国环保署将饮用水中汞的现行标准水平定为2 ppb。2011年，水、污水和其他系统的汞排放量占总汞排放量的49%。2011年，安大略的工业向水中释放了最多的汞。通常，饮用水中的汞浓度低于0.5 ppb。因此，在重新使用或排放到环境中之前，必须从受污染的水和废水流中去除汞。一个适当的仪器技术测量汞浓度低至ppt水平是必要的进行这项研究。高科技汞分析仪，如冷蒸气原子吸收或荧光光谱仪（CVAAS和CVAFS）将用于测量极低浓度（即ppt水平）的汞。

Mercury and its derivatives particularly organic mercury (methylmercury) are among the most toxic pollutants in the water and wastewater. Mercury occurs naturally in the environment and exists in different inorganic and organic forms. The U.S. EPA sets the current standard level of mercury in drinking water at 2 ppb. Water, sewage and other systems contained 49% of the total mercury released in 2011. Industries in Ontario released the most mercury to water in 2011. Normally, mercury concentration in drinking water is less than 0.5 ppb. Thus, mercury must be removed from contaminated water and wastewater streams prior to reuse or discharge into the environment. A proper instrumental technique for measuring mercury concentration as low as ppt levels is necessary to conduct this research. High tech mercury analyzers such as cold vapor-atomic absorption or fluorescence spectroscopy (CVAAS and CVAFS) will be used for Hg measurement at very low concentration (i.e. ppt levels).