Laying waste to mercury: inexpensive sorbents made from sulfur and recycled cooking oils

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dc.contributor.authorWorthington, M.
dc.contributor.authorKucera, R.
dc.contributor.authorAlbuquerque, I.
dc.contributor.authorGibson, C.
dc.contributor.authorSibley, A.
dc.contributor.authorSlattery, A.
dc.contributor.authorCampbell, J.
dc.contributor.authorAlboaiji, S.
dc.contributor.authorMuller, K.
dc.contributor.authorYoung, J.
dc.contributor.authorAdamson, N.
dc.contributor.authorGascooke, J.
dc.contributor.authorJampaiah, D.
dc.contributor.authorSabri, Y.
dc.contributor.authorBhargava, S.
dc.contributor.authorIppolito, S.
dc.contributor.authorLewis, D.
dc.contributor.authorQuinton, J.
dc.contributor.authorEllis, A.
dc.contributor.authorJohs, A.
dc.contributor.authoret al.
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractMercury pollution threatens the environment and human health across the globe. This neurotoxic substance is encountered in artisanal gold mining, coal combustion, oil and gas refining, waste incineration, chloralkali plant operation, metallurgy, and areas of agriculture in which mercury-rich fungicides are used. Thousands of tonnes of mercury are emitted annually through these activities. With the Minamata Convention on Mercury entering force this year, increasing regulation of mercury pollution is imminent. It is therefore critical to provide inexpensive and scalable mercury sorbents. The research herein addresses this need by introducing low-cost mercury sorbents made solely from sulfur and unsaturated cooking oils. A porous version of the polymer was prepared by simply synthesising the polymer in the presence of a sodium chloride porogen. The resulting material is a rubber that captures liquid mercury metal, mercury vapour, inorganic mercury bound to organic matter, and highly toxic alkylmercury compounds. Mercury removal from air, water and soil was demonstrated. Because sulfur is a by-product of petroleum refining and spent cooking oils from the food industry are suitable starting materials, these mercury-capturing polymers can be synthesised entirely from waste and supplied on multi-kilogram scales. This study is therefore an advance in waste valorisation and environmental chemistry.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityMax J. H. Worthington, Renata L. Kucera, Inês S. Albuquerque, Christopher T. Gibson, Alexander Sibley, Ashley D. Slattery, Jonathan A. Campbell, Salah F. K. Alboaiji, Katherine A. Muller, Jason Young, Nick Adamson, Jason R. Gascooke, Deshetti Jampaiah, Ylias M. Sabri, Suresh K. Bhargava, Samuel J. Ippolito, David A. Lewis, Jamie S. Quinton, Amanda V. Ellis, Alexander Johs, Gonçalo J.L. Bernardes and Justin M. Chalker
dc.identifier.citationChemistry: A European Journal, 2017; 23(64):16219-16230
dc.identifier.doi10.1002/chem.201702871
dc.identifier.issn0947-6539
dc.identifier.issn1521-3765
dc.identifier.orcidSlattery, A. [0000-0003-4023-3506]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/115576
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherWiley
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE150101863
dc.rights© 2017 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201702871
dc.subjectInverse vulcanisation; mercury; sulphur; sulphur polymer; waste valorisation
dc.titleLaying waste to mercury: inexpensive sorbents made from sulfur and recycled cooking oils
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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