Effects of enhanced metal recovery on the recycling potential of MSWI bottom ash fractions in various legal frameworks.

In recent years, complex new bottom ash treatment processes for enhanced metal recovery have been implemented in Switzerland, producing residual bottom ash fractions with various qualities. This study focusses on three different treatment processes by characterizing all arising fractions in detail. Thereby the factors influencing the composition of these fractions are identified and their recycling potential in Switzerland is investigated. However, high legislative requirements on total contents of heavy metals represent a high barrier for bottom ash recycling in Switzerland. Therefore, the recycling potential is further evaluated based on the waste legislation applied in the Netherlands, where recycling of bottom ash has a long tradition. There, threshold values for bottom ash recycling are based on leachate concentrations and not on total contents as in Switzerland. However, Swiss Waste Legislation also knows threshold values based on leachate concentrations for certain waste materials. The leaching tests applied in these two countries, however, are different. The comparison of both leaching tests reveals that the setup and conditions, especially the considered pH range, significantly influence the leaching of heavy metals. With emphasis on problematic pollutants, the possibilities for new applications of these fractions are evaluated based on Swiss and Dutch legal threshold values. The comparison within the legal frameworks of these two countries allows recognizing opportunities and risks related to bottom ash recycling.

The environmental performance of enhanced metal recovery from dry municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash.

This study assesses the environmental performance of the municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration bottom ash (IBA) treatment plant in Hinwil, Switzerland, a large-scale industrial plant, which also serves as a full-scale laboratory for new technologies and aims at an optimal recovery of metals in terms of quantity and quality. Based on new mass-flow data, we perform a life cycle assessment that includes the recovery of iron, stainless steel, aluminium, copper, lead, silver and gold. Fraction-specific modelling allows for investigating the effect of the metal fraction quality on the subsequent secondary metal production as well as examining further metal recycling potentials in the residual IBA. In addition, the implications on the landfill emissions of IBA residues to water were quantified. The impact assessment considered climate change, eco- and human toxicity and abiotic resource depletion as indicators. Results indicate large environmental savings for every impact category, due to primary metal substitution and reduction of long-term emissions from landfills. Metal product substitution contributes between 75% and >99% to these savings in a base scenario (1'000-year time horizon), depending on the impact category. Reductions in landfill emissions become important only when a much longer time horizon was adopted. The metal-based analysis further illustrates that recovering heavy non-ferrous metals - especially copper and gold - leads to large environmental benefits. Compared to the total net savings of energy recovery (215 kg CO2-eq per tonne of treated waste, average Swiss plant), enhanced metal recovery may save up to 140 kg CO2-eq per tonne of treated waste.

Dataset on ten-years monitoring of MSWI bottom ashes in six MSWI plants in the Canton of Zürich, Switzerland.

The dataset presented in this article is the supplementary data for the research article "Ten-years monitoring of MSWI bottom ashes with focus on TOC development and leaching behaviour" (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2020.07.038) by Glauser et al. (2020) [1]. From 2008-2018 bottom ashes have been monitored in six MSWI plants in the Canton of Zürich with regular sampling campaigns and analysis of important species defined in the Swiss Waste Legislation [2]. Both the size of the dataset and the long period of consistent and representative monitoring are unique for Switzerland. Relevant aspects of the monitoring data are discussed and interpreted in the above mentioned research article and complemented by simple emission forecast modelling. While only selected species were discussed in the research article, this data article covers all the monitoring data. The focus of the monitoring was laid on carbon-species with the analysis of total carbon (TC), total organic carbon (TOC), total inorganic carbon (TIC), degradable organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC). Total contents of nitrogen (N), sulphur (S), phosphorus (P), selected heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb and Zn) and loss on ignition (LOI) complete the solid chemical analysis. In addition, particulate ferrous (Fe) and non-ferrous (NF) metals and unburnt material were determined manually. Batch eluate tests according to Swiss Waste Legislation [3] were performed and analysed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ammonium (NH4 +), nitrite (NO2 -), fluoride (F-), sulphite (SO3 2-), sulphide (S2 -), chromate Cr(IV) and the heavy metals Cu (aq) and Zn (aq) and Cr(IV). In addition, data on the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and the physical parameters pH and electrical conductivity complete the eluate analysis.

Ten-years monitoring of MSWI bottom ashes with focus on TOC development and leaching behaviour.

In Switzerland MSWI bottom ash has to comply with the legal threshold value for TOC of < 2 wt-% in order to be landfilled. However, TOC contents of this magnitude lead to elevated DOC emissions and associated emissions of ammonium and Cu (aq). Since 2008 the Canton of Zürich therefore pursues a strategy to lower TOC contents in bottom ash by 2020 to 0.5 wt-%. To observe the development of TOC and other constituents, bottom ash has been monitored from 2008 to 2018. Monitoring results indicate that TOC contents < 0.5 wt-% in bottom ash lead to DOC eluate concentrations < 20 mg/l. DOC concentrations of this magnitude are close to Swiss legal criteria for discharge of landfill leachate into surface waters (10 mg/l). The emission results have been obtained by batch eluate tests according to Swiss Waste Legislation. Such laboratory tests only partially simulate real conditions occurring on landfills. To approximate landfill conditions, column tests with recent bottom ashes combined with tests on simple emission forecasting complete the study. The comparison of results from batch and column tests shows similar cumulative concentrations, indicating that batch tests are suitable to evaluate bottom ash quality. The tested modelling approach, based on constant conditions and exponential decrease in concentration, proved adequate to simulate column progressions. The modelled emission forecasts for DOC lies within 33% of column test results. Further, the model demonstrates the differences in flow regime between eluate tests and landfills and promotes better understanding of temporal aspects and the influence of landfill relevant parameters on pollutant mobilisation.

Technologies for the management of MSW incineration ashes from gas cleaning: New perspectives on recovery of secondary raw materials and circular economy.

Environmental policies in the European Union focus on the prevention of hazardous waste and aim to mitigate its impact on human health and ecosystems. However, progress is promoting a shift in perspective from environmental impacts to resource recovery. Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) has been increasing in developed countries, thus the amount of air pollution control residues (APCr) and fly ashes (FA) have followed the same upward trend. APCr from MSWI is classified as hazardous waste in the List of Waste (LoW) and as an absolute entry (19 01 07*), but FA may be classified as a mirror entry (19 0 13*/19 01 14). These properties arise mainly from their content in soluble salts, potentially toxic metals, trace organic pollutants and high pH in contact with water. Since these residues have been mostly disposed of in underground and landfills, other possibilities must be investigated to recover secondary raw materials and products. According to the literature, four additional routes of recovery have been found: detoxification (e.g. washing), product manufacturing (e.g. ceramic products and cement), practical applications (e.g. CO2 sequestration) and recovery of materials (e.g. Zn and salts). This work aims to identify the best available technologies for material recovery in order to avoid landfill solutions. Within this scope, six case studies are presented and discussed: recycling in lightweight aggregates, glass-ceramics, cement, recovery of zinc, rare metals and salts. Finally, future perspectives are provided to advance understanding of this anthropogenic waste as a source of resources, yet tied to safeguards for the environment.

Extraction of heavy metals from MSWI fly ash using hydrochloric acid and sodium chloride solution.

Fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration contains a large potential for recyclable metals such as Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd. The Swiss Waste Ordinance prescribes the treatment of fly ash and recovery of metals to be implemented by 2021. More than 60% of the fly ash in Switzerland is acid leached according to the FLUWA process, which provides the basis for metal recovery. The investigation and optimization of the FLUWA process is of increasing interest and an industrial solution for direct metal recovery within Switzerland is in development. With this work, a detailed laboratory study on different filter cakes from fly ash leaching using HCl 5% (represents the FLUWA process) and concentrated sodium chloride solution (300 g/L) is described. This two-step leaching of fly ash is an efficient combination for the mobilization of a high percentage of heavy metals from fly ash (Pb, Cd ≥ 90% and Cu, Zn 70-80%). The depletion of these metals is mainly due to a combination of redox reaction and metal-chloride-complex formation. The results indicate a way forward for an improved metal depletion and recovery from fly ash that has potential for application at industrial scale.

Chemical associations and mobilization of heavy metals in fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration.

This study focusses on chemical and mineralogical characterization of fly ash and leached filter cake and on the determination of parameters influencing metal mobilization by leaching. Three different leaching processes of fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) plants in Switzerland comprise neutral, acidic and optimized acidic (+ oxidizing agent) fly ash leaching have been investigated. Fly ash is characterized by refractory particles (Al-foil, unburnt carbon, quartz, feldspar) and newly formed high-temperature phases (glass, gehlenite, wollastonite) surrounded by characteristic dust rims. Metals are carried along with the flue gas (Fe-oxides, brass) and are enriched in mineral aggregates (quartz, feldspar, wollastonite, glass) or vaporized and condensed as chlorides or sulphates. Parameters controlling the mobilization of neutral and acidic fly ash leaching are pH and redox conditions, liquid to solid ratio, extraction time and temperature. Almost no depletion for Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd is achieved by performing neutral leaching. Acidic fly ash leaching results in depletion factors of 40% for Zn, 53% for Cd, 8% for Pb and 6% for Cu. The extraction of Pb and Cu are mainly limited due to a cementation process and the formation of a PbCu0-alloy-phase and to a minor degree due to secondary precipitation (PbCl2). The addition of hydrogen peroxide during acidic fly ash leaching (optimized acidic leaching) prevents this reduction through oxidation of metallic components and thus significantly higher depletion factors for Pb (57%), Cu (30%) and Cd (92%) are achieved. The elevated metal depletion using acidic leaching in combination with hydrogen peroxide justifies the extra effort not only by reduced metal loads to the environment but also by reduced deposition costs.