Geotechnical engineering properties of incinerator ash mixes

An integrated characterisation of incineration bottom ashes towards sustainable application: Physicochemical, ecotoxicological, and mechanical properties

Environmental protection is a central concern regarding municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (IBA) management, but the assessment of waste Hazardous Property HP14 (ecotoxicity) is still under debate. Civil engineering applications may be a suitable management strategy. This work aimed at evaluating IBA regarding mechanical behaviour and environmental hazardous potential, including a biotest battery for ecotoxicity assessment (comprising miniaturised tests), to explore its potential for safe utilization. Physical, chemical, ecotoxicological (Aliivibrio fischeri, Raphidocelis subcapitata, Lemna minor, Daphnia magna, Lepidium sativum), and mechanical (one-dimensional compressibility, shear strength) analyses were performed. The low leaching for potentially toxic metals and ions complied with European Union (EU) limit values for non-hazardous waste landfills. No relevant ecotoxicological effects were found. The biotest battery seems suitable for ecotoxicological assessment in the aquatic ecosystem, providing wide information on waste impact on different trophic/functional levels and chemical uptake routes, simultaneously involving short-duration tests and reduced amounts of waste. IBA presented more compressibility than sand, but its mixture with sand (30%:70%) was closer to sand compressibility. IBA (lower stresses) and the mixture (higher stresses) showed slightly higher shear strength than sand. Overall, IBA presented the potential for valorisation as loose aggregates from an environmental and mechanical viewpoint in a circular economy framework.

Experimental investigations for assessing the influence of fly ash on the flow through porous media in Darcy regime

Hydraulic conductivity plays a vital role in the studies encompassing explorations on flow and porous media. The study investigates the compaction characteristics of a river sand (Beas, Sutlej, and Ghaggar rivers) and fly ash mix in different proportions and evaluates four empirical equations for estimating hydraulic conductivity. Experiments show that an increase in the fly ash content results in a decrease in the maximum dry density (MDD) and an increase in the corresponding optimum moisture content (OMC) of sand-fly ash samples. MDD at optimum fly ash content was achieved at low water content, which resulted in less dry unit weight than that of typical conventional fill. In Beas, Sutlej, and Ghaggar sands the optimum fly ash content up to which the hydraulic conductivity value reduced uniformly was found to be 30, 45, and 40%, respectively. Any further increase in the fly ash content results in a negligible decrease in hydraulic conductivity value. The observed hydraulic conductivity of sand-fly ash mix lies in the range of silts, which emboldens the use of sand-fly ash mix as embankment material. Further, the evaluation of empirical equations considered in the study substantiates the efficacy of the Terzaghi equation in estimating the hydraulic conductivity of river sand-fly ash mix.

Geotechnical Properties of Anthropogenic Soils in Road Engineering

The construction of a roads network consumes high amounts of materials. The road materials are required to fulfill high standards like bearing capacity and low settlement susceptibility due to cyclic loading. Therefore, crushed aggregates are the primary subbase construction material. The material-intensity of road engineering leads to depletion of natural resources, and to avoid it, the alternative recycled materials are required to be applied to achieve sustainable development. The anthropogenic soils (AS), which are defined as man-made unbound aggregates, are the response to these requirements. For the successful application of the AS, a series of geotechnical laboratory and field tests were conducted. In this article, we present the set of 58 test results, including California Bearing Ratio (CBR) bearing capacity tests, oedometric tests, and cyclic CBR tests, to characterize the behavior of three AS types and to compare its reaction with natural aggregate (NA). The AS tested in this study are recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), fly ash and bottom ash mix (BS), and blast furnace slag (BFS). The results of the tests show that the AS has similar characteristics to NA, and in some cases, like compression characteristic, RCA and BFS behave a stiffer response to cyclic loading. The test results and analysis presented here extend the knowledge about AS compressibility and AS response to cyclic loading.

Comparison and modeling of leachate transportation dominated by the field permeability with an anisotropic characteristic based on a large-scale field trial study

Permeability significantly affects leachate transportation. Yet, there often exists a gap for its measurements between laboratory and the field. To predict the fate and transport of heavy metals from IBA leaching, a large-scale field trial study was performed using a big column (d × h = 3 m × 5.5 m) packed with 1-m thickness of IBA (approx. 10.6 tons) overlaid by 4-m sand layer. The determined field permeability (k_F) was compared with that achieved from the laboratory, demonstrating a large disparity as much as 4 orders of magnitude likely due to IBA self-compaction. Indeed, back calculation using Blake-Kozeny's equation unveiled that, the "effective" diameters were significantly reduced by 21-46%. k_F also demonstrated an anisotropic characteristic associated with fingered flows, trapped bubbles and heterogeneous consolidation/cementation efficiencies. To quantify the effects by k_F, we ran a mechanistic model to simulate the transport of 11 heavy metals under advection (d_h/d_x  = 0.05 m/m), indicating dramatically prolonged breakthrough time from days to centuries. Interestingly, breakthrough time was comparable among various metal ions (0-16.6% of RSD), suggesting their synchronous movements. Metal flux under k_F was predicted in the end to address its toxicity potential, demonstrating limited environmental impacts in presence of the USEPA criterion.

Evaluation of physicochemical and hydromechanical properties of MSWI bottom ash for road construction

Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator (MSWI) Bottom Ash has been used as a substitute for traditional aggregates in road construction; however, this material is little understood. The work presented in this paper pursues the study on the mechanical performance of bottom ash, proven by Le et al. (2017). Using a coupling technique for the first time, the physicochemical aspects and hydromechanical resistance of bottom ash were evaluated and analyzed. Physicochemical tests were first carried out, followed by oedometer tests under a wetting path. This coupled evaluation underlined the role of principal mineralogical components of the studied bottom ash as well as the link with its hydromechanical properties. Tests results showed that the principal constituent of bottom ash is SiO₂, which thus affects the characteristics of bottom ash. Given the physical stability of SiO₂ which generated a compacted material being less sensitive to water and chemical reactions, and bottom ash's other characteristics, this demonstrates why bottom ash could be a viable material in roadworks.

Accelerated carbonation of different size fractions of MSW IBA and the effect on leaching

Accelerated carbonation has been studied as a treatment method for MSW IBA, and the main advantage is that it can shorten the treatment duration from months to days, compared to natural weathering. This study investigated the effect of accelerated carbonation on different size fractions of IBA collected from two incineration plants in Singapore. The different size fractions were ground to <425μm to minimise the influence of morphological difference on carbonation efficiency from that of chemical and mineralogical differences. Total element content was carried out for IBA collected from both incineration plants and the different size fractions. XRD was also used to analyse the mineralogical composition of IBA. Results showed that the degree of carbonation decreased as the size increased, which in turn corresponded to decreasing total Ca content and portlandite phase. The leaching behaviour of Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr and soluble constituents like DOC, Cl(-), and SO4(2-) were evaluated. It was found that carbonation resulted in the reduction of leaching of most constituents, except Cl(-) and SO4(2-). The reduction in leaching after carbonation can be attributed to the decrease in pH and formation of secondary minerals, rather than the precipitation of calcite. The research also suggested that since the leaching of soluble constituents from untreated IBA is mainly from the fine fractions and the fine fractions are more reactive to accelerated carbonation, size separation is beneficial in improving the carbonation efficiency and reducing the volume of IBA that needs to be treated, which can potentially reduce the treatment cost of IBA.

Reuse of MSWI bottom ash mixed with natural sodium bentonite as landfill cover material

The research described in this study had the aim of evaluating the reuse of incinerator slag, mixed with sodium bentonite, for landfill capping system components. A characterization was performed on pure bottom ash (BA) samples from an incinerator in the north of Italy. The results show that the BA samples had appropriate properties as covers. The compacted dry unit weight of the studied BA (16.2 kN m(-3)) was lower than the average value that characterizes most conventional fill materials and this can be considered advantageous for landfill cover systems, since the fill has to be placed on low bearing capacity ground or where long-term settlement is possible. Moreover, direct shear tests showed a friction angle of 43°, corresponding to excellent mechanical characteristics that can be considered an advantage against failure. The hydraulic conductivity tests indicated a steady-state value of 8 × 10(-10) m s(-1) for a mixture characterized by a bentonite content by weight of 10%, which was a factor 10 better than required by Italian legislation on landfill covers. The results from a swell index test indicated that fine bentonite swelled, even when divalent cations were released by the BA. The leaching behaviour of the mixture did not show any contamination issues and was far better than obtained for the pure BA. Thus, the BA-bentonite mixture qualified as a suitable material for landfill cover in Italy. Moreover, owing to the low release of toxic compounds, the proposed cover system would have no effect on the leachate quality in the landfill.

Effect of incinerator bottom-ash composition on the mechanical behavior of backfill material

This study explores the influence of the chemical composition (SiO(2), CaO, Fe(2)O(3), and Al(2)O(3)) of incinerator bottom ash on its friction angle. Direct shear tests were performed to measure the strength of bottom ash with two distinctly different compositions. Then, an empirical equation was regressed to determine the correlation between each composition and the friction angle. The experimental results showed that the main constituent material of the incinerator bottom ash from general municipal wastes is SiO(2), and the friction angle is 48.04°-52.66°. The bottom ash from incineration plants treating both municipal wastes and general industrial wastes has a high content of iron-aluminum oxides, and its friction angle is 44.60°-52.52°. According to the multivariate regression analysis result, the friction angle of bottom ash of any composition is influenced mainly by the Fe(2)O(3) and Al(2)O(3) contents. This study used the friction angle of the bottom ash from four different incineration plants to validate the empirical equation, and found that the error between actual friction angles and the predicted values was -1.36% to 5.34%. Therefore, the regressed empirical equation in this study can be employed in engineering applications to preliminarily identify the backfill quality of incinerator bottom ash.

Mechanical properties of incineration bottom ash: the influence of composite species

The mechanical properties, including strength, deformational behavior, and wetting softening phenomena of municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash are one of the major concerns for reuse applications. However, owing to the complex constituents of municipal solid waste, the properties of MSWI bottom ash are often highly variable. A series of artificial specimens with controlled chemical components were tested in this study. The test results show that the artificial bottom ash possesses the following mechanical characteristics: (1) for the strength, the frictional angles of the bottom ash under dry and saturated conditions vary from 34.8 degrees to 51.1 degrees and 26.0 degrees to 37.2 degrees, respectively; (2) for the deformation, the shear stiffness increases with the normal stress arises and degrades upon increased shearing; (3) significant wetting degradation of the strength and stiffness were observed. The multi-variable regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the associated influence of the chemical components on the strength. Among the evaluated components, Fe(2)O(3) and Al(2)O(3) are key factors; an increase in either results in higher strength at both dry and saturated conditions. The results were used to propose empirical relationships for phi(dry) and phi(sat), expressed in terms of Fe(2)O(3) and Al(2)O(3). Accordingly, a strength classification chart is proposed for engineering purposes.

Assessing the environmental impact of ashes used in a landfill cover construction

Large amounts of construction materials will be needed in Europe in anticipation for capping landfills that will be closed due to the tightening up of landfill legislation. This study was conducted to assess the potential environmental impacts of using refuse derived fuel (RDF) and municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) ashes as substitutes for natural materials in landfill cover designs. The leaching of substances from a full-scale landfill cover test area built with different fly and bottom ashes was evaluated based on laboratory tests and field monitoring. The water that drained off above the liner (drainage) and the water that percolated through the liner into the landfill (leachate) were contaminated with Cl(-), nitrogen and several trace elements (e.g., As, Cu, Mo, Ni and Se). The drainage from layers containing ash will probably require pre-treatment before discharge. The leachate quality from the ash cover is expected to have a minor influence on overall landfill leachate quality because the amounts generated from the ash covers were low, <3-30l (m(2)yr)(-1). Geochemical modelling indicated that precipitation of clay minerals and other secondary compounds in the ash liner was possible within 3 years after construction, which could contribute to the retention of trace elements in the liner in the long term. Hence, from an environmental view point, the placement of ashes in layers above the liner is more critical than within the liner.