The Minamata Convention – named after the Japanese city where a notorious mercury poisoning incident happened in the 1950s causing neurological and physiological injuries to the local population – provides for the gradual phasing out of products containing mercury. At the same time, it requires a rapid transition to eco-sustainable lighting technologies.
The international treaty known as the Minamata Convention was designed with the aim of protecting human health and the environment from pollution by harmful substances. Mercury is in fact a powerful neurotoxin with harmful effects on the central and peripheral nervous systems. In chronic cases and in childhood, even minimal doses can cause permanent damage.
For these reasons, the Minamata Convention includes a ban on mercury mining and provides for the phasing out of mercury use in products and of mercury based product marketing by 2030. This will have a profound effect on the market of lighting fixtures, as current fluorescent lamps contain mercury: a 60% drop in sales of UV fluorescent lamps by 2030 is estimated.
In fluorescent lamps, the source of luminescence is low-pressure mercury vapour contained inside a glass tube. These lamps are used in a number of industries, e.g. for tanning beds, insect traps, resin cross-linking processes, industrial processes including digital printing and paint drying, and more generally, in all applications where air, water and surface sanitizing is required.
In addition, traditional lamps have several drawbacks, such as low energy efficiency and a relatively short life. For all these reasons, old UV fluorescent lamps are now considered an obsolete and heavily polluting technology.
The onset of LEDs has revolutionized the ultraviolet light emission technology, offering more effective, versatile and above all, eco-sustainable solutions.
LEDs (Light-Emitting Diode lamps) are a natural, green alternative to old fluorescent lamps containing mercury and can be used in many different fields, including air and surface sanitizing devices.
LEDs are used in medical equipment: in particular, UV-B LEDs are used for advanced dermatological treatments.
New generation tanning beds and showers use UV-A and UV-B LED sources to ensure more effective and less harmful exposure, avoiding the inherent risks of mercury-based fluorescent lamps.
As regards industrial applications, UV curing processes for paints and resins through photocatalysis increasingly use UV LEDs, instead of traditional, heavily polluting lamps.
Finally, UV LEDs are used in drinking water purification systems for germicidal sterilization achieved using UV rays.
C-LED, a Cefla Group company, has acquired over the years industry-specific expertise in the field of UV LED lamps to be used for sanitization purposes in a variety of application areas.
UV LED lamps are a future-oriented lighting solution, capable of effectively replacing old mercury-based fluorescent lamps in any application field – from industrial manufacturing to healthcare. Choosing this innovative LED technology helps fully comply with the Minamata Convention, protecting the environment and human health from risks caused by an extremely toxic substance such as mercury.
