Recycling ash into the first stage of cyclone pre-heater of cement kiln

•The recycling fly ash would not promote the formation of PCDD/Fs.•Raw meal has a tendency to reduce the formation of PCDD/Fs.•The metal catalyst was the main influencing factor.•The formation mechanism would be the de novo and precursor synthesis.

Fly ash collected from the bag filter could be recycled into the first stage of the cyclone pre-heater of the cement kiln, resulting in the possible enrichment of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). In this study, soxhlet fly ash (SFA) and raw meal (RM) were selected as the basis for the PCDD/F formation experiments. The levels of 2,3,7,8-PCDD/Fs formed on the SFA and RM were observed to be 2550 pg/g (157 pg I-TEQ/g) and 1142 pg/g (55 pg I-TEQ/g), respectively. While less 2,3,7,8-PCDD/Fs was detected when SFA was mixed with RM, suggesting that recycling cement kiln ash would not largely increase the concentration of PCDD/Fs in flue gas. Furthermore, the possible influencing factors on the PCDD/F formation were also investigated. The formation of 2,3,7,8-PCDD/Fs was up to 10,871 pg/g (380 pg I-TEQ/g) with the adding of CuCl2, which was much higher than the results of CuO and activated carbon. Most importantly, the homologue, congener and gas/particle distribution of PCDD/Fs indicated that de novo synthesis was the dominant PCDD/F formation pathway for SFA. Lastly, principal component analysis (PCA) was also conducted to identify the relationship between the compositions of reactant and the properties of PCDD/Fs produced.