Determination of mercury in fluorescent lamp cullet by atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

Two methods for the determination of mercury in fluorescent lamp cullet samples were developed. Cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) was applied to samples that were digested to dissolve the attached, mercury-containing phosphor. In the other method, solid phosphor material stripped from the glass cullet was used in a solid sampling technique employing electrothermal AAS with a specially designed ring chamber graphite tube. The results for the determination of mercury by the two methods were comparable. The relative standard deviations were 3.2–3.5% for the cold vapour AAS technique and 8.5–9.9% for direct solid sampling AAS at mercury levels of about 1.5 and 2.5 µg g^–1, respectively. The proposed digestion procedure and mercury determination methods (especially the solid sampling AAS method) can be successfully applied to the rapid monitoring of the mercury level in fluorescent lamp cullet and facilitate its further use as recycled glass.