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Integrated management of ash from industrial and domestic combustion: a new sustainable approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy conversion

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Abstract

This work supports, for the first time, the integrated management of waste materials arising from industrial processes (fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration and coal fly ash), agriculture (rice husk ash), and domestic activities (ash from wood biomass burning in domestic stoves). The main novelty of the paper is the reuse of wood pellet ash, an underestimated environmental problem, by the application of a new technology (COSMOS-RICE) that already involves the reuse of fly ashes from industrial and agricultural origins. The reaction mechanism involves carbonation: this occurs at room temperature and promotes permanent carbon dioxide sequestration. The obtained samples were characterized using XRD and TGA (coupled with mass spectroscopy). This allowed quantification of the mass loss attributed to different calcium carbonate phases. In particular, samples stabilized using wood pellet ash show a weight loss, attributed to the decomposition of carbonates greater than 20%. In view of these results, it is possible to conclude that there are several environmental benefits from wood pellet ash reuse in this way. In particular, using this technology, it is shown that for wood pellet biomass the carbon dioxide conversion can be considered negative.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by LIFE+, the financial instrument of the European Community to support environmental projects (LIFE+ 2011 project ENV/IT/000256). This activity was realized in the frame of MINEA (Mining the European Anthroposphere) COST Action.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSTM and Chemistry for Technologies Laboratory, University of Brescia, via Branze 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy

    Laura Benassi, Rogerta Dalipi, Veronica Consigli, Michela Pasquali, Laura Borgese, Laura E. Depero & Elza Bontempi

  2. Materials and Engineering Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, Howard Street, Sheffield, S1 1WB, UK

    Francis Clegg & Paul A. Bingham

Authors
  1. Laura Benassi
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  2. Rogerta Dalipi
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  3. Veronica Consigli
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  4. Michela Pasquali
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  5. Laura Borgese
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  6. Laura E. Depero
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  7. Francis Clegg
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  8. Paul A. Bingham
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  9. Elza Bontempi
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Correspondence to Elza Bontempi.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

To the memory of Serena Sganzerla

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Benassi, L., Dalipi, R., Consigli, V. et al. Integrated management of ash from industrial and domestic combustion: a new sustainable approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy conversion. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 14834–14846 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9037-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9037-y

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