The Effect of Wet Treatment on the Distribution and Leaching of Heavy Metals and Salts of Bottom Ash from Municipal Solid Waste Incineration

One of the main challenges of bottom ash reutilization is heavy metal and salts' leaching potential. The effect of wet treatment on chemical composition and leaching toxicity of bottom ash were investigated in this study to mitigate this leaching potential. Batch leaching and column leaching tests were first conducted to investigate the leaching behavior of the targeted elements (Cu, Zn, Ni, Cl-, and SO42-) from raw bottom ash and treated bottom ash after wet treatment. X-ray fluorescence analysis was used to analyze the chemical composition of bottom ash, and sequential extraction procedure (SEP) operation was done to analyze the chemical species of the heavy metals of bottom ash. The obtained results showed that the wet treatment applied on raw bottom ash posed a slight influence on the concentration of most of the major elements, 5.57-18.18%. SEP results showed the acid extractable Zn that accounted for 22.4-24.5% of the total Zn, and the iron manganese oxide bound Ni was 25.2-28.4%, and the organic matter bound Cu was 21.4-31.7%. The wet treatment reduced the concentrations and leachable amount of the targeted pollutants, which could decrease the leaching concentration of Cu by 77.1%, Zn by 34.7%, Ni by 100%, Cl by 30.1%, and SO42- by 51.4% based on the batch leaching tests under acid condition. The column leaching tests also suggest that wet treatment decreases Cu, Zn, and Cl- leaching concentration in bottom ash. This indicates that wet treatment improves the suitability of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash for reutilization in China.

Automated summary

The study investigated the effect of wet treatment on reducing heavy metal and salt leaching potential in bottom ash. The results showed that wet treatment significantly decreased the leaching concentration of Cu, Zn, Ni, and other targeted elements, improving the suitability of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash for reutilization.