Recycling and Application Characteristics of the Fly Ashes from Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator Blended with Waste Polypropylene

Abstract

The article describes a systematically investigations of the blending effects of waste polypropylene (PP), fly ashes (FA) on the physical and chemical properties of the PP/fly ashes blends. In addition, the aim of this study was the production of composites waste PP and fly ashes by means of a melt blending method using a twin-screw extruder. PP/fly ashes blends can provide that the fly ashes are well encapsulated with PP/fly ashes blend utilization technology, which is shown by the results of toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) test. Tensile properties of the PP/fly ashes blends decreased as their fly ashes contents increase from 0 to 20 wt%, and improved significantly when the specimens went through a weatherability process. As evidenced by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) analysis, the structure of PP and the PP/fly ashes blends was not destructed even when it seems to have become more stable after a thermal treatment of the samples that exposes them to UV radiation for 20 h. In addition, the fracture structure of the PP/fly ashes blends, after a weatherability process, was not destroyed. The PP/fly ashes blends exposed in the outdoor weathering prove that heavy metals were not released at higher temperature even under the illuminated circumstances of high humidity for a long period of time. Therefore, fly ashes blend with waste PP is a valuable technology for the utilization of fly ashes and waste PP.