Funari V, Mantovani L, Vigliotti L, Tribaudino M, Dinelli E, Braga R. Superparamagnetic iron oxides nanoparticles from municipal solid waste incinerators.
THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2018;
621:687-696. [PMID:
29197288 DOI:
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.289]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2017] [Revised: 11/24/2017] [Accepted: 11/25/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
During their production, management, and landfilling, bottom (BA) and fly (FA) ashes from municipal solid waste incineration may liberate Fe-bearing, ultrafine particles and easily enter different environmental sinks of the biosphere. We aim to explore a collection of BA and FA samples from Italian incinerators to probe magnetic mineralogy and the fraction of harmful superparamagnetic (SP) nanoparticles (d<30nm). X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy observation, temperature- and frequency-dependent magnetometry, and Mossbauer analysis are performed. The integration of information from our rock magnetic and non-magnetic techniques leads us to conclude that the dominant magnetic carrier in our samples is magnetite and its intermediate/impure forms, while sulphides (i.e., monoclinic pyrrhotite) are important ancillary magnetic phases. The SP fraction fluxing from the BA and FA outputs of a single incinerator is detected and estimated in 103tons/year. This work stresses the need to calibrate the current technologies towards a safer management of combustion ashes and certainly to inform the environmental impact assessment by using a combination of different methods.
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