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Mercury metal price experiences?

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klugesmith

Fri Dec 04 2009, 10:41PM

Registered Member #2099 Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716

I need a pound or two of mercury to fill my McLeod gauge from ebay.
Seller will be shipping it empty because we confirmed that Hg is unmailable.
And that UPS and Fed Ex won't carry the metal, even in small quantities, without a lot of trouble and cost (e.g. hazmat registration number for shipper). I'm too old to be a party to "keeping one's mouth shut", and too busy and rich to be taken to task if contraband is discovered.

Found a local individual who has over 20 lbs of Hg, but wants someone to buy the whole lot. Whence the question of fair price. And I'll become perpetual custodian of whatever I can't resell locally.

As an industrial commodity the price is currently very low, around $3/lb (couple $100 per standard flask) due to usage restrictions, and a glut of hundreds of tons as Hg is phased out of chlor-alkali production plants. In fact European surplus is being routed through a Spanish mining company that agreed to suspend new production -- a price support policy to discourage overuse and waste, IMHO, at the cost of some cinnabar-mining jobs.

Scrap metal exchanges have liquid mercury lots (e.g. unused dental grade and used liquid Hg) offered at between $2 and $3 per lb.

But lab equipment exchanges still want over $50 per lb for technical grade mercury metal. And chemical supply houses want hundreds per lb for triple distilled reagent grade stuff.

What would you pay for 10 kg of mercury? Or 5 kg if I lived in your town?

IamSmooth

Sat Dec 05 2009, 12:32AM

Registered Member #190 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 12:00AM
Location:
Posts: 1567

Twenty pounds? I don't think you want to hold onto 20 lbs of mercury at your home. I would try to get him to sell you less. I would first ask him what he wants per pound. I would pay $10/lb.

Nik

Sat Dec 05 2009, 07:37PM

Registered Member #53 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:31AM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 638

My old physics prof (before he retired) gave me about a pound as a "because you are the weirdest guy I met who wont poison his family with it by accident" present. He said it cost him about 5$ when he got it from the school supply place.

Proud Mary

Sat Dec 05 2009, 08:29PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Delivery charges are the big killer, Rich, though of course they don't make your gums go blue before your teeth fall out.

And a McLeod gauge! How wonderful!

No real vacuum calibration is possible without one (that I know of) as the source of ultimate reference for your ion gauages etc.

(Yes, the environmental pollution around the abandoned cinnabar mines of AlmadÃ©n will remain a hazard for many years to come. )

Might it be possible to make a McLeod guage that used some kind of near-room temperature alloy? Who can say?

A pragmatic approach might be to infer the degree of vacuum from the apparent MFP in a given gas.

plazmatron

Sun Dec 06 2009, 02:04AM

Registered Member #1134 Joined: Tue Nov 20 2007, 04:39PM
Location: Bonnie Scotland
Posts: 351

You could use diffusion pump fluid instead of mercury, as it has an exceedingly low vapour pressure, however you would need to recalibrate due to lack of density.

No one will fly Merury, since if there is a spillage, it will happily amalgamate with the Aluminium on the aircraft with interesting results

Les

MinorityCarrier

Sun Dec 06 2009, 05:05AM

Registered Member #2123 Joined: Sat May 16 2009, 03:10AM
Location: Bend, Oregon
Posts: 312

If you ever find yourself going to Bend, Oregon, let me know and I'll arrange to give you a 5lb bottle of mercury.

klugesmith

Sun Dec 06 2009, 07:29AM

Registered Member #2099 Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716

Thanks for the suggestions and offer. I ended up buying about half the lot, 9.3 lbs, for about $10/lb. It's more than I need, so I hope some can benefit other hobbyists and/or teachers around San Jose, California.

One curious thing, the "10 lb" bottle has a shrink-tubing seal but is only 3/4 full, and the contents look sort of dirty. Maybe when the McLeod gauge arrives I'll have to get some experience with cleaning the metal -- dilute nitric acid wash? Filtering through chamois? No distilling at my house, at least not of anything undrinkable.

Proud Mary

Sun Dec 06 2009, 10:48AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Klugesmith wrote ...

Thanks for the suggestions and offer. I ended up buying about half the lot, 9.3 lbs, for about $10/lb. It's more than I need, so I hope some can benefit other hobbyists and/or teachers around San Jose, California.

Hi Rich,

if Hg containers are filled to the top, it is not long before they burst when temperature rises. The 'dirtyness' is another issue.

Stella

mikeselectricstuff

Sun Dec 06 2009, 11:44AM

Registered Member #311 Joined: Sun Mar 12 2006, 08:28PM
Location:
Posts: 253

Out of curiosity, am I right in assuming that commercial disposal costs of mercury generally exceed its value? Is there a "break-even" quantity? - I imagine that much of the disposal cost is 1-off handling/admin type stuff that at some point would be offset by the material value.
Reason for asking is I occasionally get requests for info from people who found my Mercury Arc rectifier page asking about what to do with MARs they need to decommission.

...

Sun Dec 06 2009, 07:11PM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

This is somewhat off topic, but in the US all cities have annual or bianual 'household hazardous waste roundups' designed specifically to keep people from chucking these kinds of things in the trash. They may give you a weird look if you bring in a gigantic mercury vapor rectifier, but as long as you don't have a truckload of them they should take it.

I assume there is a similar program in the UK, but I cannot say for sure.

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