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Elemental mercury emission in the indoor environment due to broken compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs--paper
Citation:
MARR, D., M. A. MASON, AND S. Durkee. Elemental mercury emission in the indoor environment due to broken compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs--paper. In Proceedings, Indoor Air 2011, Austin, TX, June 05 - 10, 2011. International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ), Santa Cruz, CA, 2 p, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
symposium paper
Description:
Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs contain a few milligrams (mg) of elemental mercury. When a CFL breaks, some of the mercury is immediately released as elemental mercury vapor and the remainder is deposited on indoor surfaces with the bulb debris. In a controlled study designed to investigate the impact of various breakage and cleanup scenarios, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (2008) observed: initial air concentrations following breakage as high as 50 ug/m3 under one scenario near the CFL breakage; that concentrations varied greatly in time and space; that remediation of carpets was challenging; and that vacuuming contaminated the vacuum and temporarily increased mercury concentrations in the air of the room. We examine these data, and others like them, to provide a starting point for identifying research needs relating to the assessment of potential mercury exposure and remediation.
