As complementary input to ongoing UNEP's consideration on the issue of storage of mercury, the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS), a Germany based independent expert- and research organisation on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) has conducted a literature overview to identify and describe existing technologies for the stabilization/solidification of liquid (elemental) mercury and mercury-containing wastes.
The goal of these methods is to chemically convert elemental mercury and mercury-containing waste into thermodynamically more stable and solid compounds with considerably less volatility and less solubility. Such compounds may pose a smaller risk to human health and the environment. This overview on stabilization/solidification methods is meant as contribution for further consideration how to facilitate national and (sub)regional efforts to manage, store and dispose waste mercury and mercury-containing wastes in an environmentally sound manner.
