Mercury management in the Chlor-alkali industry INC3 Technical Briefing Nairobi, Kenya October 30, 2011 Dolf van Wijk - WCC

Mercury management in the chlor-alkali industry Content WCC: phase out of mercury use Mercury storage Mercury stabilisation 2

Hg use in chlor-alkali by WCC members 3

Estimate of mercury still present in chlor- alkali plants (situation end 2010) Country or regionHg plantskt Cl2/yrt Hg (**) Europe India Brazil + Argentina (1) + Uruguay (1) North America + Mexico Russia Sub-total Non WCC members estimateAbout 43 (*) About Grand totalAbout 100About (*) but for less than 1 Mt Cl 2 /yr on a total of 6.5 Mt/yr (**) rounded values based on an average of 1.9 t Hg/kt Cl2 capacity

Illustration of the volume of the surplus Hg 5 7,540 tonnes of liquid mercury is equivalent to 560 m³ This is nearly the volume of the famous sculpture The Bean in Chicagos Millennium Park, which is inspired by a drop of liquid mercury

Handling and storage of mercury in CA industry Safe handling and storage of liquid mercury is long- standing practice in chlor-alkali industry Good housekeeping; continued training; regular controls are key elements WCC guidance documents shared; several topics, e.g. housekeeping, minimisation of emissions, analytical methods, decommissioning, mercury storage … ChloralkaliSector/Reports/tabid/4495/language/en-US/Default.aspx 6

Safe handling practices during operation Respiratory equipment during cleaning Cell room

Safe handling practices during operation Vapour extraction and active carbon filtration Confinement with aeration

Safe handling during conversion Installation of dedicated area to change ppe: Personal protective equipment Frequent air measurements

Safe handling during conversion Contaminated waste handling Fluorescent x-ray measurements

Mercury storage Storage options under consideration globally: Aboveground – belowground (e.g. salt mines) Liquid – solid (stabilised) Studies ongoing on feasibility and safety Chlor-alkali industry interested in pursuing permanent storage solutions 11

Mercury storage - stabilisation (1) Mercury sulphide disposal in landfill and salt mines has been applied since many years Technical solutions being studied and developed in Germany (industrial unit), Spain (lab scale) and US Results show transformation of mercury is complete; no metallic traces detectable in solid Germany: industrial installation running successfully since >1 year (200 tonnes treated) Larger installation under construction 12

Stabilisation of mercury (German company) Brought to full scale, licensed and commercially used 13

Mercury storage - stabilisation (2) Spanish project for building industrial plant launched summer 2011including collection and transport In operation before end 2012, economic details to be confirmed In US-Mexico commercial stabilisation also considered but still preliminary Another option considered is long-term waste disposal based on amalgamation using zinc 14

Stabilisation of mercury (Spanish company) After stabilisation, encapsulation in liquid sulphur /sand/polymer 15

Thank you for your attention For further information: Contact Dolf van Wijk - WCC Secretariat …and:

Anouncement of related presentations For more information regarding mercury management technologies, please attend the demonstration talks taking place from 8:15 am to 8:45 am, Monday to Wednesday. Location TBA. Monday: "Spanish Technological Developments for the Sound Management of Mercury"- Ana Garcia Gonzalez, Spanish Ministry of Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs Tuesday: " A Safe Solution for the Safe Handling of Surplus Metallic Mercury by Formation of Mercury Sulphide and Final Retirement of the Stabilized Mercury in the German Salt Mines"- Susanne Kummel, DELA GmbH Wednesday:"U.S. Government Actions to Manage Elemental Mercury Storage and Waste"- Steve Surface, U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency and Cliff Carpenter, U.S.Department of Energy