Influence of residual carbon on the decomposition process of PCDD/Fs in MSWI fly ash

In order to simulate a heating treatment process, fly ash was heated at different temperatures and gas atmospheres, oxygen or nitrogen. Heated fly ash was placed for 2 h at 300 °C in oxygen to promote de novo synthesis, or cooled immediately. As a result, good correlation between PCDD/Fs and residual carbon was found, therefore it was shown experimentally that residual carbon was the main factor for PCDD/Fs formation by de novo synthesis in fly ash.