Vitrification of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash using biomass ash as additives

Thermal melting is an energy-costing solution for stabilizing toxic fly ash discharged from the air pollution control system in the municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) plant. In this paper, two different types of biomass ashes are used as additives to co-melt with the MSWI fly ash for reducing the melting temperature and energy cost. The effects of biomass ashes on the MSWI fly ash melting characteristics are investigated. A new mathematical model has been proposed to estimate the melting heat reduction based on the mass ratios of major ash components and measured melting temperature. Experimental and calculation results show that the melting temperatures for samples mixed with biomass ash are lower than those of the original MSWI fly ash and when the mass ratio of wood ash reaches 50%, the deformation temperature (DT), the softening, hemisphere temperature (HT) and fluid temperature (FT) are, respectively, reduced by 189°C, 207°C, 229°C, and 247°C. The melting heat of mixed ash samples ranges between 1650 and 2650 kJ/kg. When 50% wood ash is mixed, the melting heat is reduced by more than 700 kJ/kg for the samples studied in this paper. Therefore, for the vitrification treatment of the fly ash from MSW or other waste incineration plants, wood ash is a potential fluxing assistant.