Morphochemical investigation on the enrichment and transformation of hazardous elements in ash from waste incineration plants

Muhammad Ubaid ALI, Yuan LIU, Balal YOUSAF, Ming Hung WONG, Ping LI, Guijian LIU, Ruwei WANG, Yong WEI, Muyuan LU

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The transformation of heavy metals in ash from waste incineration plants is significant for ash management. The migration behavior of trace elements in ash after combustion, semidry deacidification, fabric filtration, and chelating agent stabilization was investigated from one waste incineration plant. The hazardous elements Zn, Pb, and As were enriched in raw fly ash (ash produced at a combustion temperature of 850–1100 °C) due to their relatively high volatility. Mercury, Cd, and Pb were captured in fly ash2 and processed by activated carbon and fabric filters. The removal rate of As (71%) was the highest among all studied elements due to a large amount of quinquevalent As removed. However, the average removal rate of elements in fly ash was only 13%. In the finally obtained fly ash3 (after chelating agent stabilization), a larger particle size (~100 μm) was found than that of raw ash. Furthermore, fly ash3 contains HgSO4 and trivalent As, which are toxic and likely to be precipitated when the fly ash3 is next utilized or deposited in a landfill, causing environmental risks. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Article number154490
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume828
Early online dateMar 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2022

Citation

Ali, M. U., Liu, Y., Yousaf, B., Wong, M. H., Li, P., Liu, G., . . . Lu, M. (2022). Morphochemical investigation on the enrichment and transformation of hazardous elements in ash from waste incineration plants. Science of the Total Environment, 828. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154490

Keywords

  • Migration mechanism
  • Chemical speciation
  • Hazardous elements
  • Waste incineration plants

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