Study on the fate of phosphorus, fluorine and chlorine in sludge during incineration

Abstract

Sludge is often incinerated to achieve complete harmlessness and maximum capacity reduction, but the utilization of P (phosphorus) and the environmental pollution of F (fluorine) and Cl (chlorine) released from sludge incineration are usually ignored. In this paper, a series of experiments were employed to inquire into the conversion of various forms of P and the release of various forms of F and Cl after sludge incineration at different temperatures; the agriculture application prospect of P in sludge incineration ash and the environmental pollution caused by the release of F and Cl were discussed. The results show that P in sludge mainly exists as NAIP (non-apatite inorganic P) which biological effect was small. In the process of sludge incineration, InorgP (inorganic P) began to volatilize at 900 ℃, and the remaining P in sludge ash was 30.96 % at 1100 ℃. The forms of P in sludge incinerated at different temperatures varied considerably: a small amount of OrgP (organic P) in the sludge was converted into InorgP at 400 ℃; with the increase of incineration temperature, AP (apatite P) increased gradually, with 3.00 × 103–7.98 × 103 g/t in sludge ash at 700–1100 ℃. At 900 ℃, the content of AP in incineration ash was the highest, accounting for 58.98 % of Total P, which was the most suitable for slow-release phosphate fertilizer. At 600–1100 ℃, more Cl release, with a release rate of 50.61–92.70 %, among which the Cl for HCl (ClHCl) was 1.64 × 103–1.95 × 103 g/t at 700–1100 ℃. The F release rate was 1.52–37.39 %, among which the InorgF (inorganic F: mainly refers to F in HF and SiF4) was 1.13–27.91 g/t at 300–1100 ℃, the release amount of OrgF (organic F) was 1.59–1.86 g/t at 600–800 ℃. It can be seen that after incineration above 700 ℃, the sludge incineration ash may be used as a slow-release phosphate fertilizer, the release of Cl has greater environmental pollution and instrument corrosion than that of F, and the exhaust gas from sludge incineration cannot be discharged directly into the atmosphere.