Influence of operational conditions, waste input and ageing on contaminant leaching from waste incinerator bottom ash: A full-scale study

Leaching of metals and Cl from fresh, naturally aged, and lab-scale aged bottom ashes generated during full-scale incineration experiments with different operational conditions (OC) and waste input (WI) was assessed. Although significant differences in the bulk contents of the generated bottom ashes were observed between the individual experiments, addition of 5.5 wt.% PVC, 11.1 wt.% chromated-copper–arsenate impregnated wood, 14.2 wt.% automotive shredder residue, 1.6 wt.% shoes, and 0.5 wt.% batteries to the normal municipal solid waste received at the incinerator (in six individual experiments) had no significant effect on metal leaching from the bottom ash. Likewise, changes in OC (furnace oxygen level and air distribution) could not be correlated to changes in leaching. The effects on metal leaching from ageing were generally larger than the effects from changes in OC and WI. Ash ageing caused a significant decrease in leaching of Cu, Zn, and Pb while leaching of Sb and particularly Cr increased. For Cl, a clear correlation between the bulk contents and leaching was observed for bottom ash generated in experiments with changes in WI. Comparison of leaching data obtained in this study with leaching from “typical” aged Danish bottom ash revealed no significant differences when the typical variations in leaching data over time and between different Danish incinerators were accounted. Generally, this indicates that metal leaching from bottom ash is not sensitive to limited changes in WI and OC as suggested in this paper, only Cl− leaching appeared to be affected.