Measurement and evaluation of properties of MSW fly ash treated by plasma

By-product of a municipal waste incineration is the incinerator or MSW (municipal solid waste) fly ash. It is toxic. It contains highly concentrated level of unwanted metals, their soluble salts as well as persistent organic pollutants, dioxins, etc. Tendency of legislation of the European Union is to reduce the environmental impact caused by the storage of MSW fly ash at disposal sites. For that reason, the MSW fly ash is required to be stabilized before its final deposition. Stabilizing the MSW fly ash into a cement form does not generally change its classification from toxic to inert waste. It does not solve the question of reducing the volume of the waste, either. Innovative method presented in this article is based on the elimination of fly ash produced by the municipal waste incineration process by using a vitrification in plasma reactor. This method is able to transform the ash into stabilized vitrified product in glass matrix, that has certain inert properties and, as a result, it is suitable for subsequent use, ex. construction. Details about the MSW fly ash transformation into the inert waste form, as well as results obtained from performed measurements on the 30 kVA plasma reactor are noted in the following article.