01152746

Component

Millions of tons of municipal solid waste are burnt in incinerators every year producing a large amount of a residue called Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA), which have been stockpiled and caused a lot of environmental problems. Means of re-using this waste, thereby avoiding disposal problems and, thus, minimizing environmental impacts, have been aimed at by international research groups over many years. In this work, a laboratory study was conducted to investigate the possibility of using IBA as a low-cost aggregate resource in road construction to replace primary aggregate supplies. IBA was mixed with limestone to achieve an acceptable blend in terms of environmental and functional aspects to be used as a road foundation layer. The research studied the leaching characteristics of IBA blends under different conditions, such as initial pH value, liquid to solid ratio, IBA content in the blend and use of novel and traditional treatment agents. The experimental program was designed to recreate a realistic environment of a road foundation layers by using a lysimeter as a large scale leaching tool, and developing a laboratory protocol that simulates field conditions to evaluate the long-term release of heavy metals and salts from IBA waste blends. Experimental results showed that zinc and lead were released in very low concentrations but sodium and sulphate were released in high concentrations. The control limestone blend also demonstrated low release concentrations of constituents in comparison to IBA blends, from which constituent concentrations increased with increase in IBA content. Additive treatment highly improved the IBA blends? leaching properties as element release was reduced by a wide margin ranging between 5 to 96%.

01147878

10-0655

English

15p

2010

Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Meeting

DVD

Figures; Photos; References (15) ; Tables (4)

Aggregate tests; Bottom ash; Environment; Environmental impacts; Incinerators; Leaching; Limestone aggregates; Solid waste disposal; Subbase materials

Environment; Highways; I15: Environment

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2010 Paper #10-0655

TRIS, TRB

Jan 25 2010 10:19AM