Mercury Capture System
📍United States
A mercury capture system to remove dangerous elemental mercury vapor from the air that is emitted during the amalgam burning process.
Mercer University Team
Adam M. Kiefer - Mercer University
Laura W. Lackey - Mercer University
Craig McMahan - Mercer University
Caryn S. Seney - Mercer University
Sagar Patel - Mercer University
Claudia Vega - Centro de Innovación Científica Amazónica (CINCIA); Center for Energy, Environmental and Sustainability (CEES)
William Pan - Duke University
Alex Pfaff - Duke University
Bridget Bergquist - University of Toronto
Ruth Goldstein - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Suzette McFaul - SEF Canada Ltd.
Pitch Presentation
Reason for applying
“Mercury pollution associated with gold shops in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities is a recognized threat to both human and environmental health. While the ultimate solution to this global issue will be the elimination of the use of mercury from mining practices, there is currently no replacement for mercury for millions of miners, particularly those who are most vulnerable.
Our team has developed a mercury capture system (MCS) that removes mercury emitted in the air during the final stages of gold extraction and at the initial stages of gold refinement. After countless hours in the lab and the field, our MCS is demonstrably effective. It is relatively inexpensive, easily modifiable, and most importantly it has been effective during field testing − including in gold shops. However, to have a significant impact based on the application of our innovation, we must make it accessible to shop owners, communities, and governments to ensure the technology is accepted, adopted and safely used. We also recognize that this technology can only be implemented in concert with others, particularly those that serve to eliminate Hg use altogether.
The environmental, social, and human-health issues associated with ASGM cannot be addressed by a single technology, entity, field, or discipline; creative solutions require teamwork to transition between ideas, designs, testing, and implementation. As a result, navigating these transitions can be complicated.
Because the ASM Grand Challenge, as an organizational center, provides an opportunity for us to interact with other groups and organizations to solve a complex global issue, it catalyzes change by bringing together diverse thinkers and doers, providing our team with the potential to advance our own project while supporting others.
Specifically, success in this Challenge will: (1) allow us to attract external funding to employ these units at scale, achieving and demonstrating their effectiveness at community level; 2) form partnerships with other leaders in the field to demonstrate their effect on human and environmental health; 3) provide a safer and productive alternative to miners, gold shop owners, and ASGM communities to clean up mining until mercury free processing becomes available; and 4) utilize the MCS as a keystone technology in adjusting supply chains, thus preparing for verifiable, mercury-free gold production.”
Featured In
