Effect of air pollution-controlled residue of a sewage sludge incinerator on the drying shrinkage and the pore structure of alkali-activated materials

Abstract

Recycling air pollution-controlled residues (APCR) generated from sewage sludge incinerators can be used for waste management, but the leaching of potentially toxic heavy metals from APCR poses environmental and human health issues. The present paper describes a procedure using APCR to produce alkali-activated materials and thereby realize their disposal. The effect of APCR on the compressive strength and drying shrinkage of the alkali-activated slag/glass powder was investigated. The pore structure characteristics were analyzed for clarifying its relationship with drying shrinkage. The results indicated that the drying shrinkage of the alkali-activated material was related to the mesopore volume. The drying shrinkage was slightly increased after the incorporation of the 10 % APCR, which was likely attributed to the high volume of mesopores compared to the 20 % APCR that lowered the drying shrinkage and compressive strength. This decrease in drying shrinkage was due to the recrystallization of sodium sulfate in the pore solution that can act as expansive agents and aggregates. The growth stress of the crystalline sodium sulfate within the matrix can offset the tension stress caused by the water loss. In addition, leaching studies using the SW-846 Method 1311 showed that recycling APCR into the alkali-activated system did not present a toxicity leaching risk or release unacceptable concentrations of heavy metals. The incorporation of waste APCR and waste glass can make AAMs a very promising and safe environmental technology.