TREATMENT OF MERCURY-CONTAINING WASTE WATER

PURPOSE:To extend the life of an adsorbent and to improve the efficiency of removing mercury by adding a reducing agent such as sodium hydrogensulfite, etc. to mercury-contg. waste water then bringing the same into contact with activated carbon deposited thereon with a sulfur compd., etc. CONSTITUTION:A sulfur compd. such as dithiocarbanic acid deriv., thiourea deriv., thiole deriv., etc. is deposited on active carbon. A reducing agent such as sodium hydrogensulfite, sodium sulfite, sulfur dioxide, ferrous chloride or the like is added to the mercury-contg. waste water discharged from a waste treating plant such as a refuse incineration plant or the like and a production plant, etc. for products associating to mercury such as caustic soda, fluorescent lamps or the like. The waste water is then brought into contact with said activated carbon to remove mercury. The amt. of the reducing agent to be used is adequately 100- 10,000mg/l in terms of a pure component by the flow rate of the waste water although said amt. varies with the kind and treating object of the waste water. The reaction time is adequately 5-30min.