Physical-mechanical and environmental properties of sintered municipal incinerator fly ash

A step-wise treatment of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) incinerator fly ash including washing, milling and sintering was investigated in order to manufacture ceramic materials with improved physical, mechanical and environmental properties and, possibly, to reduce the power input of the sintering process. An interpretation of the test results based on the microstructure of sintered products and sintering kinetic modeling was also attempted to identify the densification mechanisms. It was found that milling of washed fly ash represents a basic step for manufacturing high-density ceramic materials with very high compressive strengths (up to 500 N/mm2). A significant reduction in the power input of the sintering process (reduction of firing temperature from 1210 °C for washed fly ash to 1140 °C for milled-washed fly ash) is also achieved. A dense, well-sintered microstructure is formed through an intermediate-stage, liquid-phase sintering mechanism controlled by liquid-phase diffusion and grain shape accommodation. Such a microstructure is able to strongly immobilise heavy metals, thus giving good environmental properties to sintered product.