Method for recovering fluorescent material from faulty glass bodies of discharge lamps

Referring now to FIG. 1, that shows an end of a faulty rod-shaped fluorescent lamp taken from the production line just after coating by a suspension of fluorescent material, the fluorescent coating 9 on the inside wall of the glass body 1 comprises binding material beside the fluorescent material in a mixture of suspension. At this stage of the lamp making process, the binding material has not been burned out from the fluorescent coating 9 yet. The fluorescent material itself can be a large variety of expensive rare-earth materials such as yttrium-oxide activated with europium, lanthanum phosphate activated with cerium and terbium and / or barium-magnesium-aluminate activated with europium. The diameter D of glass body 1 is unique at a particular type of fluorescent lamps and the glass body 1 is normally made from soda—lime glass.

FIG. 2 shows an end of a faulty rod-shaped fluorescent lamp taken from the production line just after burning out the fluorescent coating 9. At this stage of