Multielement Determination and Distributions of Major-to-Ultratrace Elements in Industrial Waste Incineration Bottom Ash as Studied by ICP-AES and ICP-MS

Abstract

Abstract The multielement determination of major-to-ultratrace elements in industrial waste incineration bottom ash was carried out by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) after alkali fusion using LiBO2. The concentrations of 50 elements in bottom ash could be determined over the concentration range from 192 mg g−1 of Si to 0.072 μg g−1 of In. Silicon, Al, Fe, Ca, Na, and Ti, which except for Fe are lithophile elements, were major elements of industrial waste incineration bottom ash. The distributions of major-to-ultratrace elements in incineration bottom ash were evaluated by the enrichment factors. The enrichment factors of major elements in incineration bottom ash indicated that their relative contents were quite similar to those in the continental crust. It was also found that most minor and trace elements in the lithophile element group provided almost the same enrichment factors as those of major elements. On the other hand, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in the chalcophile element group as well as some of the siderophile ones, such as Co and Ni, provided the significantly larger enrichment factors, although they were more enriched in fly ash than in bottom ash. Such large abundances of many transition elements in industrial waste incineration ashes may reflect the large amounts of metal use in industry as well as in modern society.