introduction Saving energy, protecting the environment, and meeting people's demands for higher and higher lighting quality are the tenets of green lighting. However, we must face up to the fact that with the invention and popularization of various types of electric light sources, the environmental pollution caused by harmful substances in the process of production and use must also attract our attention. At present, the use of harmful substances in electric light source products in China is very worrying, especially the pollution of mercury in gas discharge light source products is very serious. The mercury content of a single fluorescent lamp in China is much higher than the international standard. At present, the mercury consumption for light source production is more than 30 tons per year, and most of the light sources are not concentrated after use. According to the forecast of the development of China's electric light source industry, in 2015, China's fluorescent lamp production will reach 2 billion. If the average mercury content per unit product and the average mercury consumption at the time of production still maintain the current level, by 2015, the amount of mercury pollution may be as high as 80 tons, and the consequences are unimaginable. Therefore, paying attention to environmental management during the production and use of electric light sources, reducing the use and discharge of harmful substances, and effectively recycling and utilizing, and developing energy-saving and environmentally-friendly electric light sources have become important goals for the electric light source industry in the future. The National Development and Reform Commission/UNDP/GEF China Green Lighting Project Promotion Project Office specially investigated the pollution situation in the process of production and use of electric light source in China's lighting industry, and collected data on foreign governance methods and experiences. The members of the research team conducted expert research and conducted a survey of some electric light source manufacturers for more than one year. From January to December 2004, they visited Beijing Matsushita Electric Appliance Co., Ltd., Tianjin used lamps. Pipe recycling company, Shanghai GE Lighting Appliance Co., Ltd., also visited Guangdong Province and Jiangsu Province, where the production of electric light sources was concentrated, and visited the Foshan Municipal Government Economic Office in Guangzhou, and several electric light source companies with inconvenient public names. Through more than one year of research, we finally proposed policy recommendations to strengthen pollution control in China's lighting industry. This report only selects part of the entire research topic. First, the seriousness of the main harmful substances of electric light source to the environment and human body pollution The main harmful substances in electric light source products include mercury, heavy metal lead and non-metallic substances such as arsenic, which are harmful substances that seriously pollute the environment and endanger human health. Mercury is the only liquid metal element that can be volatilized into the air at normal temperature and pressure. Part of the mercury entering the air can settle to the surface and the ocean with dust and precipitation in a local area or region near the source, and part of it flows globally with the circulation of the atmosphere. Mercury can also spread to other parts of the world along with ocean currents. Mercury has been listed as a global pollutant by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is the only chemical that affects the world in addition to greenhouse gases. It has the property of transnational pollution. Mercury is a chemical with severe physiological toxicity. It can enter the human body through the respiratory tract, esophagus and skin. Excessive mercury absorption in the human body can cause mercury poisoning. After mercury poisoning, it can cause cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and high blood pressure, and can affect human liver, thyroid and skin functions. . Mercury and its compounds are acted upon by microorganisms in water and soil to produce methylmercury, which can be transported along the aquatic food chain for high bioaccumulation. In the ocean, sharks, swordfish, tuna, squid and other large fishes and seals in the food chain have the highest mercury content; in lakes and rivers, meatfish at the upper end of the food chain have the highest methyl mercury content. Human consumption of fish and shellfish and marine mammals contaminated with mercury is subject to methylmercury. Lead pollution is an invisible killer in modern society. Lead is the only trace element that is not needed in the human body. It is stable in nature, non-degradable, and hinders the formation of blood cells. After the lead is absorbed, it enters the liver, and part of it is discharged from the bile into the intestine, excreted with the feces: another part enters the blood. The lead in the blood is initially distributed in various tissues, with the highest content of liver and kidney, and then deposited in the bones and hair with insoluble lead phosphate. The clinical manifestations of acute lead poisoning are gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and constipation. When the body's lead accumulation is stored to a certain extent, there will be symptoms of chronic poisoning such as mental disorders, nightmares, insomnia, headache, severe fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea and neurasthenia syndrome. Lead can also enter the brain through the blood, causing brain damage. As the disease progresses, there may be a decrease in motor and sensory nerve conduction velocity, anemia, abdominal cramps, carpal ptosis, urinary protein and renal function changes. According to research, children's absorption of lead is several times higher than that of adults. Lead poison has a great influence on children's intelligence. Arsenic is a highly toxic substance. Soluble compounds of arsenic and arsenic are highly toxic. As2O3 is arsenic (white peony). Arsenic can enter the body through breathing, skin contact, and diet. Arsenic can bind to sulfhydryl groups in proteins and enzymes, inhibiting many biochemical processes in the body, especially in combination with the thiol group of pyruvate oxidase, causing it to lose its activity and causing serious disorders of cell metabolism. The symptoms of acute poisoning of arsenic are: throat, esophagus and gastrointestinal burning sensation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, nausea, vomiting, mouth drinking, facial cyanosis, rapid decrease in blood pressure, and rapid death when the condition is severe. Arsenic poisoning is also cumulative and can accumulate in osteoporosis, kidney, liver, spleen, muscle and keratinized tissues (such as hair, skin and nails). In recent years, it has also been found that among workers who are frequently exposed to arsenic-containing substances, the incidence of skin cancer and lung cancer is higher than that of other industries; skin ulcers and nasal septal perforation are more common. Second, the pollution status of China's electric light source products Electric light source products have different elements and different levels of harmful substances due to their different varieties. The electric light source containing mercury mainly includes fluorescent lamps, high-pressure mercury lamps, neon lamps, etc., and the most common ones are fluorescent lamps. The pollution mainly comes from the excessive use of mercury, unreasonable operation and product rupture.
At present, in China, a T12 fluorescent lamp with a diameter of 36 mm has a mercury content of 25-45 mg, and a T5 fluorescent lamp with a diameter of 16 mm has a mercury content of 20 mg and a diameter of 10 mm. The compact fluorescent lamp contains 10 mg of mercury.
In China, about 1 billion fluorescent lamps were produced in 2004. According to the average mercury content of each lamp, 30mg, the total amount of mercury in fluorescent lamps produced in China in 2004 was about 30 tons.
The mercury consumed in the actual production process is much larger than this figure. The reasons are mainly due to unreasonable control during mercury injection and high product scrap rate during production. Taking a 40W T12 straight tube fluorescent lamp as an example, automatic injection of mercury through an automatic production line requires injection of 20-40 mg of mercury, plus process consumption, and the actual mercury consumption is 60-100 mg. At present, a large number of mercury injection processes in China have adopted liquid mercury injection. Liquid mercury injection is often difficult to control in terms of mercury injection. At the same time, due to poor equipment, mercury volatilization is serious during mercury injection. Therefore, at present, the actual mercury consumption of each fluorescent lamp produced in China is 45.04-48.00mg, and the annual consumption of 1 billion fluorescent lamps consumes about 47-60 tons of mercury. According to the development forecast of China's electric light source industry, by 2005 and 2015, China's fluorescent lamp production will reach 1.5 billion and 2 billion respectively.
If the average mercury content of the product and the average mercury consumption during production remain at current levels, then by 2005, the total mercury content in the annual output of fluorescent lamps will reach 45 tons, and the amount of mercury consumed in production will reach 70 tons. Around 2015; by 2015, it will be as high as about 60 tons and more than 90 tons. During the production process, the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere reached 30-40 tons due to inadequate control measures. After the service period of the produced lighting appliances, the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere due to improper disposal was 45-50. Tons, in this way, our environment is subject to 70-80 tons of mercury per year. This figure is really worrying.
Developed countries attach great importance to environmental protection issues, and have stopped using liquid mercury in the production of fluorescent lamps, but use solid amalgam, metal mercury packages, etc., or stop producing fluorescent lamps, and transfer the “waste companies†that use liquid mercury to produce lamps. Production in China or other third world countries, as well as strict recycling measures for used lamps to prevent residual mercury flow in air and water.
Mercury-containing lighting appliances generally have no pollution during use. The pollution during use is mainly caused by the rupture of lighting appliances, which causes mercury to diffuse and cause air pollution. This situation rarely occurs, so it does not have much impact on the environment during use. . The pollution after scrapping is mainly that the electric light source is randomly discarded, and the rupture causes mercury to diffuse into the air, which seriously endangers human health. In 2004, China's scrapped mercury-containing lighting appliances were equivalent to about 600 million standard fluorescent lamps, and the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere due to improper disposal was 45-50 tons. At present, our country has not established any effective treatment measures for the recycling of discarded lighting appliances, nor has it established a recycling system and recycling mechanism that meets the characteristics of the end-of-life lighting appliances. Mercury in the discarded lighting appliances is randomly diffused into the air, causing great environmental impact and harm.
In recent years, the development of China's electric light source products has been very rapid. By 2003, the total output of various types of electric light sources in China has reached nearly 10 billion, of which nearly 2 billion are produced by gas discharge sources. We calculated that the total amount of mercury used in the production of gas discharge lamps in 2003 was about 30 tons. However, due to production methods and process methods, the actual consumption of mercury in the production process exceeded 60 tons. In other words, the amount of mercury contained in the discharge lamps that are finally put on the market is only about 30 tons, and the production of these products simultaneously produces more than 2 billion cubic meters of mercury and more than 1 million tons of mercury wastewater. The mercury slag formed by the exhaust pipe and the broken lamp tube is far more than 10,000 tons. The total amount of mercury in waste is expected to be around 30 tons. We should note that the growth rate of China's electric light source products is very fast. If we do not improve the current production technology and means, and do not try to adopt new environmentally friendly materials, then with the increasing output of electric light source products, mercury pollution will also Increasingly serious.