Solidification with water as a treatment method for air pollution control residues

The process of solidification with water was studied on air pollution control (APC) residues from incineration of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) regarding mechanical strength and leaching behaviour of solidified material. Factorial design in two levels was applied to investigate the impact of water addition, time, and temperature to mechanical strength of solidified material. Factors time and temperature, as well as the interaction between the addition of water and time significantly (alpha=0.05) influenced the mechanical strength of solidified material. The diffusion-leaching test NEN 7345 was performed to investigate if the leaching behaviour of elements from solidified material was determined by diffusion. Since it was found that leaching is not diffusion controlled, the long-term leaching behaviour was not assessed. However, the investigation showed that some of the studied components (Al, Hg, Mn, Pb, Si, and Zn) could be considerably demobilised by solidification with water. Concentrations of As, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, and Ni were either below or not quite above the detection limits to be included in the analysis of leaching behaviour. The elements least demobilised by solidification were Cl, Cr, K, and Na. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.