OCCURRENCE OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN BOTTOM ASH FROM INDIVIDUAL HEATING DEVICES

Abstract

Combustion of solid fuels such as coal, biomass and, contrary to the applicable law, waste in individual heating devices still remains a serious problem in Poland. It causes the generation of large amounts of pollutants and harmful substances contained not only in fly ash released into the air with smoke but also in the bottom ash, which constitutes a serious environmental problem. This paper presents the results of a comparative study on the contents of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in bottom ash from the combustion of hard coal (HC), wood (W) and a mixture of different solid fuels including municipal waste (MW), their sums and profiles. For the bottom ash samples taken for these fuels, the share of carcinogenic congeners in the sum of PAHs, toxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity equivalents have also been determined. The highest content of total PAHs, amounting to an average of 20.7 ppb, was recorded for bottom ash obtained from combustion of a mixture of solid fuels and waste. For such ash, the toxicity and carcinogenicity equivalents were approximately twice as high as for other types of ash. Bottom ash was found to be dominated by benzo[a]anthracene, and the tetracyclic congeners accounted for 60-68% of all PAHs (W<MW<HC). Regardless of the origin of the bottom ash, approximately 60% of the total PAHs were constituted by carcinogenic compounds.