Investigation of Environmental Leaching Behavior of an Innovative Method for Landfilling of Waste Incineration Air Pollution Control Residues

Waste incineration air pollution control (APC) residues require pretreatment before landfilling because these types of residues encompass pollutants from an incineration gas stream. The environmental concerns of APC residues consist of a risk of leaching and subsequent release of potentially harmful substances that occur under environmental exposure. The stabilization/solidification (S/S) method of incineration residues is one of the most applied technologies for hazardous incineration residues. Portland cement is commonly used as a binder material in S/S for pollutant encapsulation, in order to change the hydrological characteristics of the landfilled material. Based on previous research, an innovative S/S method for APC residues is investigated, meant to replace Portland cement with cement-like material made from lignite fly ash (FA). To do this, a lab-scale landfill was created through the promoted S/S method and exposed to the environment for 12 months. Thus, this article assesses the lab-scale leaching behavior of a landfill disposal material exposed to environmental conditions and attempts to prove the promoted innovative S/S method. The results show that the replacement of Portland cement with a substitute material for utilization in the S/S method can mitigate energy consumption in the industrial cement subsector.

Analysis of the Waste Volume and CO2-Equivalent Caused by the Use of Selected Patch Pumps

Background: The use of tube-free insulin pumps is increasing. To protect the environment, the use of resources and the amount of emissions into the environment should be kept as low as possible when designing these systems. In addition to basic waste avoidance, the composition of the waste produced must be considered. Methods: To compare current tube-free pumps from an ecological standpoint, a tube-free insulin pump with a modular design and two non-modular tube-free pumps were subjected to manual separation, manual sorting, characterization, and mass determination. The annual waste volume of a user was measured, and the recyclability was assessed. The global warming potential (GWP) resulting from extraction of raw materials, energetic utilization of waste, and landfill of the incineration residues was balanced. Results: For the modular tube-free pump, a total waste volume of 5.5 kg/a (recycling percentage 44.3%) was determined. The non-modular systems generated 4.9 kg/a (recycling percentage 14.6%) and 5.1 kg/a (recycling percentage 16.0%) waste. The product-specific GWP of the modular system was approximately 50% lower than that of the non-modular systems; the packaging-specific GWP was 2.5 times higher. In total, a GWP of 13.6 kg CO2-equivalent per year could be determined for the modular system and a GWP of 15.5 kg CO2-equivalent per year for the non-modular systems. Conclusions: Although the modular micropump has a higher total waste volume, a greater ecological potential can be attributed to it. This is based on the recyclability of the system due to its modularity and the possible reduction of packaging waste.

The dynamic two-echelon MSW disposal system study under uncertainty in smart city

The municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal system is the key for building the smart city. In the MSW disposal system, the MSW is allocated among the disposal plants in the first echelon, and then the derivatives (incineration residues and RDF) are allocated between residues disposal plants and markets in the second echelon. In the two-echelon optimal allocation of MSW disposal system, two objectives, cost and environmental impact, should be considered. Considering the uncertainty in the MSW disposal system, this paper constructs a grey fuzzy multi-objective two-echelon MSW allocation model. The model is divided into two sub models and the expected value sorting method is applied to solve the model. The proposed model successfully was applied to a real case in Huangshi, China. The numerical experiments showed RDF technology has advantages on both cost and environmental impact comparing to other disposal technology on disposing MSW.

Incineration Fly Ash and Its Treatment to Possible Utilization: A Review

Incineration has gained popularity over landfill as a key solution for the reduction of massively increasing volumes of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation worldwide and in particular China. However, it is not the end solution. The disposal of the incineration residues, which are enriched with a wide range of heavy metals and soluble salts, has become a challenge for the environmental managers. The aim of this study was to review the increasing urbanization and its repercussion on waste generation in China; waste management options were compared for possible environmentally friendly considerations. Treatment techniques of incineration fly ash were discussed to determine the effectiveness of obtaining environmentally stable material, and, finally, possible applications of incineration fly ash for utilization were discussed based on identifying the processing suitability, performance and environmental impact of incineration fly ash for its applications.

Cadmium Stabilization by Sewage Sludge Incineration Ash

Cadmium (Cd), as a common ingredient in the production process of nickel cadmium batteries, can lead to functional disorder in kidneys, liver, lungs, cardiovascular, immune and reproductive systems. Previous studies have shown that cadmium can be stabilized in ceramic systems using clay as precursor, but the excessive exploitation of nonrenewable clay resources has caused great concerns. Hence, it is essential to find alternatives to substitute nonrenewable clay minerals. Sewage sludge incineration residues, with oxides of aluminum and silicon as major component, have attracted much attention because of the potential resource utilization. In this study, CdO and CdNO 3 was used to simulate cadmium-bearing industrial waste, and the stabilization of cadmium was achieved in ceramic matrix provided by the residues of sewage sludge incineration. Through a 2-hour sintering procedure at temperatures ranging from 800°C to 1000°C, cadmium was found to be incorporated into CdAl 2 Si 2 O 8 . The leachability of cadmium significantly declined in sintered samples when extracted in acidic environment. Meanwhile, samples that were pressed into pellets showed better cadmium stabilization efficiency, compared with powder samples. Therefore, this study suggests a promising technique to stabilize cadmium by the utilization of sewage sludge incineration residues as ceramic precursors. The success implementation of current study will further reduce the environmental burden caused by the release of heavy metals from industrial waste. Moreover, the recycling of sewage sludge incineration residues can be realized, and a waste-to-resource strategy is expected.