| abstract |
A process for recovering mercury from a mercury-contaminated material,ncomprising a step making use of a lixiviating system comprising iodide, iodatenand tri-iodide ions in an effective amount in order to desorb and complexnmercury from the said material. n The process may be performed in apparatus for recovering a heavynmetal from a heavy metal-contaminated material, having:n a cathode compartment (1) comprising a cathode (2) and an ion-permeablenhousing (3) for containing a cathode solution (4), an anode compartment (5) comprising an anode (6) and an ion-permeablenhousing (7) for containing an anode solution (8), a cathode recipient (9) for supplying the cathode solution to the cathodencompartment (1), an anode recipient (10) for supplying the anode solution to the anodencompartment (5), a device for isolating, from the anode solution (8), a set of ionsnelectrokinetically transported from the cathode solution (4) and a heavy metalncomplex electrokinetically transported from the heavy metal-contaminatednsoil, and a device for recycling the ions isolated from the anode solution (8) back to thencathode solution (4). |