Leaching characteristics of heavy metals in thermally treated residues from waste incineration

Thermal treatment enables the inertization of heavy metals in residues of waste against leaching. In this work thermally treated boiler ashes are leached with two leaching tests (DEV-S4 and pH-stat 4) to describe heavy metals leaching characteristic at different conditions. It is shown, that thermal treatment (sintering) below the melting point of the examined boiler ashes often leads to less inertization of heavy metals. Vitrification at high temperatures leads to a distinct better inertization for most of the analysed heavy metals.