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Comparative leaching characteristics of fly/bottom ashes from municipal solid waste incineration under various environmental stresses

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Abstract

With proper leaching tests, health hazards associated with municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) ashes, i.e., incineration bottom ashes (IBA) and incineration fly ashes (IFA), can be quantitatively defined. However, it must be coupled with specific environmental scenarios to draw the proper conclusions. Several environmental stresses based on current management of MSWI ashes were herein simulated with laboratory leaching studies to understand their impacts. The impact of bulk metal recovery on the IBA leaching potential was firstly investigated, suggesting the promoted release for certain metals including those with a relative high content (> 1000 mg/kg) such as Ba, Cu, Pb and Zn. The impact of seawater was also simulated. Most metal release was altered with the new chemistry established. Batch leaching tests were further performed under both salty and acidic environment to understand their aggregated effects, indicating an overwhelming influence from seawater buffering. Lastly, batch leaching tests of the IBA/IFA mixture were performed under various mass ratios, while data were compared with those by their individuals and the theoretical leaching value, unveiling different leaching characteristics during landfill disposal. Hereby, a comprehensive characteristic metal leaching potential was achieved under various ash managements. It provides insights into environmental risks relevant to their current practices.

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Abbreviations

MSWI:

Municipal solid waste incineration

IBA:

Incineration bottom ashes

IFA:

Incineration fly ashes

IA:

Incineration ashes

TCLP:

Toxicity characteristic leaching potential

WTE:

Waste-to-energy

DI:

Deionized

MSW:

Municipal solid waste

MR:

Metal recovery

ESP:

Electrostatic precipitator

APC:

Air pollution control

LOI:

Loss on ignition

TC:

Total carbon

TOC:

Total organic carbon

ICP-OES:

Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer

ICP-MS:

Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer

IC:

Ion chromatography

IBA5:

IBA combination sample made of all collection in 5 months

IBA3:

IBA combination sample made of all collection in 3 months (the 2–4th months)

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank National Environmental Agency, Singapore for financially supporting this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, 210037, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Ke Yin

  2. Residue and Resource Reclamation Centre (R3C), Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Cleantech Loop, CleanTech One, Singapore, 637141, Singapore

    Ke Yin, Xiaomin Dou & Wei-Ping Chan

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, 23 College Walk, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia

    Victor Wei-Chung Chang

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  1. Ke Yin
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  2. Xiaomin Dou
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Correspondence to Ke Yin or Wei-Ping Chan.

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Yin, K., Dou, X., Chan, WP. et al. Comparative leaching characteristics of fly/bottom ashes from municipal solid waste incineration under various environmental stresses. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 22, 46–55 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-019-00915-4

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