Mercury vapour from broken lamps brought to safe levels

Opening a package containing broken fluorescent lamps and/or CFLs presents a significant risk of mercury vapour exposure, potentially rising well above both the OSHA 8-hour permissible exposure limit of 100 ug/m3 and the NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) IDLH (immediately dangerous to life and health) level of 10,000 ug/m3.

Now, VaporLok Products, LLC has announced VaporLokCapture, a breakthrough adsorbent technology used in fluorescent lamp and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) storage and shipping containers for capturing mercury vapour from broken lamps and CFLs. VaporLokCapture effectively adsorbs mercury vapours from broken lamps found within lamp storage, shipping or recycling containers.

A recent study was conducted by NUCON International. This company provides gas, vapour and liquid phase adsorption to the nuclear power and other industries. The company found that mercury vapour levels within packages containing broken fluorescent 

lamps exceed health and safety exposure limits and guidelines.

According to Louis Kovach, president of NUCON, “Our scientific testing indicated that vapour levels inside packages containing broken fluorescent lamps can exceed 300 times the 8-hour permissible exposure limit levels established by OSHA. With the addition of the adsorbent technology, these levels were reduced by more than 95%.”

“A University of Minnesota study in 2008 determined that almost all mercury lamp shipping and recycling packages leak dangerous mercury vapor if fluorescent lamps inside are broken,” says Brad J Buscher, CEO of VaporLok Products, LLC. 

“Our Mercury VaporLok foil packaging will contain nearly 100% of the vapour. It not only contains the vapor but actually captures it within the container. This will provide an enhanced layer of protection against incidental Patent-pending, new VaporLokCapture technology significantly minimizes this risk, effectively adsorbing and capturing the mercury vapour, achieving more than 95% mercury vapour reduction within the container. With this design, approximately 60% vapour reduction is achieved in as little as 15 minutes after lamp breakage, keeping vapour levels below the NIOSH IDLH guideline.

Using a proprietary process, the patent-pending adsorbent is manufactured with powdered activated carbon and inert chemicals. When lamps or CFLs break, the adsorbent immediately begins to capture the mercury vapour. In addition to broken lamps, VaporLokCapture is designed to adsorb mercury vapour from any device or product containing mercury.  Redaders can view a short animated depiction of this process.

VaporLokCapture will be incorporated into VaporLok Products industrial and consumer CFL packaging solutions which include the Mercury VaporLok zippered, foil-plastic laminate bag and VaporLokCapture adsorbant. Unlike other containers, these enhanced packages are nearly 100 percent effective in containing mercury vapour and more than 95% effective in adsorbing harmful mercury vapour - ensuring the protection of handlers, end-users, transporters and recyclers.