Tungsten Effects on Health and Environment
Over the years there was a lot of research conducted both on the national and international level on the matter of tungsten and how does it affect our health and the environment. We all know from experience and from history that all chemicals and metals are able to have some kind of effect on the environment and health if the concertation of them is high enough. However, research has shown that tungsten has a very low possibility to cause harm to the environment and people that are in the direct contact with the metal.
Of course, some of the research is still in progress because this metal is very important for us humans in a lot of different areas. Just as any other metal or chemical this must be carefully researched to be declared as a non-harmful material. A research was released not long ago about some of the tungsten substances and it clearly shows which one is harmful and which is not. Usually, the ones that were listed as harmful were only applicable if the substance was swallowed. Since the products made out of the tungsten metal are very scratch resistant and hard, people can use them safely because there is almost no exposure to potential harm.
Recycling of Tungsten
Tungsten is a very important metal that cannot be found easily, so we must do everything in order to minimize the waste. There are factories that are specially working with recycling only tungsten scraps of metal. Because the high content, the scrap metal pieces are very valuable. Nowadays we are trying to recycle as much as the tungsten metal as we can, also the by-products that are generating when we are producing raw tungsten like ammonia is also recycled.
Environment-Friendly Use of Tungsten
People use products made out of tungsten that have some benefits for the environment. For example, tungsten is used for the preparation of catalysts that are used in the petrochemical industry. Those catalysts are designed to improve some of the highly valuable components of the gasoline and also to reduce the harmful effects of those by-products found in the gasoline such as nitrogen compounds and sulfur. Furthermore, it was found out recently that some of the tungsten compounds used in catalysts are reducing the release of nitrogen oxide intro the air from the exhaust gasses.