High - contaminated soil with mercury in bay of Vlora (Albania) and its possible remediation. Most of mercury pollution was caused by Chlorine-alkali unit where mercury cathode was used for NaCl brine electrolyses and by PVC unit where HgCl2 was used as a catalyst for the C2H3Cl monomer synthesis. We evaluated the mercury pollution within a former PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plant area situated 3 km west of Vlora centre and gave the solution for its rehabilitation. In this aim, 40 soil samples, 14 sludge samples, 4 leachate samples and 10 groundwater samples were analyzed with respect to content of mercury, in the framework of the project: "Environmental Clean Up of the PVC Plant in Vlora".
The highest (>20.0 mg/kg) mercury concentrations are found in surface soils around the buildings of former electrolysis and de-mercurisation plants and they show a roughly downward decrease.