Levels and environmental impact of PAHs and trace element in fly ash from a miscellaneous solid waste by rotary kiln incinerator, China

The increase disposals of fly ash from solid waste incinerator have becoming a serious environmental problem in China. Levels of PAHs in fly ash from a selected full-scale miscellaneous solid waste incinerator were determined by gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer. Content of trace elements and other major elements of fly ash were studied by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, respectively. Experimental results showed that a high content of lead occurred in the collected fly ash samples with the value of 35,037.90 µg/kg, but lower contents of total 16 PAHs, which mainly smaller PAHs. This was different from previous studies regarding the levels of PAHs in fly ash collected from the similar hospital waste incinerators. This survey indicated that the emission factors are attributed to combustion temperatures, type of incinerator, and the occurrences of elements in solid wastes. The total toxic equivalent quantities (TEQ) value of PAHs, a potential toxicity risk assessment using index TEQ model, has been reached to 4.00 µg/kg in ash from this study, but may not suitable for the soil amendment. Therefore, a further treatment of discharged ash and assessment of its environmental risk are unavoidable. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015