Cellular Mutagenicity and Heavy Metal Concentrations of Leachates Extracted from the Fly and Bottom Ash Derived from Municipal Solid Waste Incineration

Po-Wen Chen, Zhen-Shu Liu, Min-Jie Wun and Tai-Chen Kuo
Additional contact information
Po-Wen Chen: Department of Nursing, St. Mary’s Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management, Yilan 26644, Taiwan
Zhen-Shu Liu: Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City 24301, Taiwan
Min-Jie Wun: Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City 24301, Taiwan
Tai-Chen Kuo: Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City 24301, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: Two incinerators in Taiwan have recently attempted to reuse the fly and bottom ash that they produce, but the mutagenicity of these types of ash has not yet been assessed. Therefore, we evaluated the mutagenicity of the ash with the Ames mutagenicity assay using the TA98, TA100, and TA1535 bacterial strains. We obtained three leachates from three leachants of varying pH values using the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure test recommended by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (Taiwan EPA). We then performed the Ames assay on the harvested leachates. To evaluate the possible relationship between the presence of heavy metals and mutagenicity, the concentrations of five heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in the leachates were also determined. The concentrations of Cd and Cr in the most acidic leachate from the precipitator fly ash and the Cd concentration in the most acidic leachate from the boiler fly ash exceeded the recommended limits. Notably, none of the nine leachates extracted from the boiler, precipitator, or bottom ashes displayed mutagenic activity. This data partially affirms the safety of the fly and bottom ash produced by certain incinerators. Therefore, the biotoxicity of leachates from recycled ash should be routinely monitored before reusing the ash.

Keywords: fly ash; bottom ash; mutagenicity; Ames test; toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/11/1078/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/11/1078/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:11:p:1078-:d:82000

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().