Application of Cold Sintering Process for Stabilizing Heavy Metals in Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Fly Ash

Municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWI FA) consists predominantly of compounds comprising elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, sodium, and others. Additionally, it encompasses a complex mixture of heavy metals, chlorides, sulfates, organic pollutants, and other constituents. The effective and economically viable treatment of MSWI FA poses a formidable challenge for resource cycling at the current stage. In this research report, we adopt a novel low-temperature sintering method called the “Cold Sintering Process” (CSP) as a means to immobilize heavy metals within the fly ash. By utilizing a Taguchi orthogonal array method, we will adjust five control factors in the CSP, including sintering temperature, uniaxial pressure, sintering time, initial water addition, and sodium carbonate dosage. The leaching of cadmium from the fly ash, as measured by the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), will serve as the quality indicator of products. Through the application of CSP, MSWI FA was transformed into structurally stable ceramic blocks, and the heavy metals within the blocks were effectively immobilized. The results of the experiments showed that MSWI FA under the conditions of a temperature of 300 °C, uniaxial pressure of 312 MPa, sintering time in 60 min, 25 wt% water addition, and 9 wt% Na 2 CO 3 addition could effectively reduce the leaching of cadmium by 77.71%, lead by 21.14%, zinc by 42.37%, and chromium by 99.99%, as compared to the original MSWI FA TCLP results. The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) results indicate that during the CSP, fly ash forms phases such as calcium silicate, rankinite, hydrogrossular, anorthite, and marilite. These phase transformations are considered beneficial for preventing the leaching of internal heavy metals. Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) results reveal that CSP is advantageous for compacting the overall structure, and EDS results further demonstrate that some of the Pb and Zn are carried out from the interior of the blocks, with uneven distribution on the surface of fly ash particles. The aforementioned experimental results serve as preliminary indications of CSP’s capability to stabilize detrimental components within high-purity fly ash. Future research endeavors may entail the refinement of material proportions, modification of experimental parameters, and other methodologies, thus facilitating potential scalability to industrial applications. Such developments align with the overarching goal of resource utilization.