Investigation of Environmental Leaching Behavior of an Innovative Method for Landfilling of Waste Incineration Air Pollution Control Residues

Abstract

Waste incineration air pollution control (APC) residues require pretreatment before landfilling because these types of residues encompass pollutants from an incineration gas stream. The environmental concerns of APC residues consist of a risk of leaching and subsequent release of potentially harmful substances that occur under environmental exposure. The stabilization/solidification (S/S) method of incineration residues is one of the most applied technologies for hazardous incineration residues. Portland cement is commonly used as a binder material in S/S for pollutant encapsulation, in order to change the hydrological characteristics of the landfilled material. Based on previous research, an innovative S/S method for APC residues is investigated, meant to replace Portland cement with cement-like material made from lignite fly ash (FA). To do this, a lab-scale landfill was created through the promoted S/S method and exposed to the environment for 12 months. Thus, this article assesses the lab-scale leaching behavior of a landfill disposal material exposed to environmental conditions and attempts to prove the promoted innovative S/S method. The results show that the replacement of Portland cement with a substitute material for utilization in the S/S method can mitigate energy consumption in the industrial cement subsector.