Mercury Removal from Fish Protein Concentrate

The potential reclamation of mercury contaminated proteinaceous food by an extraction procedure such as employed in making fish protein concentrate was investigated. The addition of hydrochloric acid to the isopropanol extractant was found to give removals as high as 93% from dry swordfish protein concentrate. The normal Halifax isopropanol extraction process did not effect any significant removal of the mercury.Preliminary studies of the variables indicated acid concentration, kind of alcohol (ethanol and isopropanol), alcohol concentration, extractant volume, and number of extractions were important in the extraction.