Low-temperature thermal decomposition of dioxin-like compounds in fly ash: Combination of chemical analysis with in vitro bioassays (EROD and DR-CALUX)

To investigate the dechlorination of fly ash during low-temperature treatment under oxygen-deficient conditions (thermocatalytic treatment or Hagenmaier process) six fly ash samples from six different incineration plants here treated in a laboratory experiment or in the actual plant either under ideal (400 degreesC, 120 min) or intermediate (300 degreesC 30 min) conditions. The aim of the present study was to confirm the decrease in the I-TEQ (international toxicity equivalency) of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/-furans (PCDD/Fs) and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (co-PXBs) and, also for the first time,the decrease in the sum of dioxin-like toxicity (bioassay- or bio-TEQ) of all kinds of other dioxin-like Ah receptor agonists (such as PXDD/Fs, PXBs, PXN, X = Br, F) measured by two state-of-the-art cell-based Ah receptor-dependent bioassays: H411E-Ethoxy-Resorufin-o-Deethylase (EROD) and H411E-luc/DR-Chemical Activated Luciferase eXpression (DR-CALUX). The treatment efficiency was calculated on the basis of the reduction in the I-TEQ and bio-TEQ values. For these fly ash samples, the treatment efficiency, as measured by chemical analysis, was higher than 99%, and 85%-99%, in the case of the bio-TEQ values, indicating that these Ah receptor binding toxic compounds were sufficiently decomposed. Bio-TEQ values for untreated fly ash samples (n = 6) were on average 1.2 times (range 0.7-1.9), for the H411E-EROD assay, and 2.8 times (1.1 -4.9), for the DR-CALUX assay, higher than I-TEQ values measured by chemical analyses (sum of PCDD/Fs and co-PCBs). In the case of these fly ash samples treated under ideal conditions and therefore low in contaminants, the bio-TEQ values were on average 1.4 times (range 0.9-1.8), for the H411E-EROD assay, and 5.1 times (range 1.2-12), for the DR-CALUX assay, higher than the I-TEQ values.