Utilization of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Bottom Ash as Fine Aggregate of Cement Mortars

• Main Authors: Byeong-Hun Woo, In-Kyu Jeon, Dong-Ho Yoo, Seong-Soo Kim, Jeong-Bae Lee, Hong-Gi Kim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: incineration bottom ash; substitution; fine aggregate; heavy metal; leaching
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8832

Incineration bottom ash is generated by the incineration of solid waste. Household solid waste is increasing every year and so is incineration bottom ash. This is a problem to treat the incineration bottom ash because the ash has many toxic components. Cement composites can solve this problem and there are many studies for using the bottom ash as fine aggregate. To evaluate the usage of incineration bottom ash, compressive strength, mercury intrusion porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy-backscatter electron, X-ray diffraction, and toxicity characteristic leaching processes were performed. When using incineration bottom ash up to 20% of substitution, the compressive strength in all cases was increased. This study showed how the filler effect appeared well in the cement composites through the scanning electron microscopy-backscatter electron, and mercury intrusion porosimetry. X-ray diffraction indicated the possibility of an alkali-silica reaction of the aggregate with the components of incineration bottom ash. This problem is an obstacle to applying the incineration bottom ash as a fine aggregate. In addition, the toxicity characteristic leaching process was shown to be under the threshold of the Korean standard, however, this should nuanced by the consideration of amorphity. Comprehensively, incineration bottom ash could be used as a fine aggregate of up to 20% of substitution. However, the pre-treatment would need to eliminate or reduce alkali reactive components and heavy metals.