Grain-Size Specific Characterisation and Resource Potentials of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) Bottom Ash: A German Case Study

Iveta Vateva and David Laner
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Iveta Vateva: Research Center for Resource Management and Solid Waste Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Kassel, Mönchebergstraße 7, 34125 Kassel, Germany
David Laner: Research Center for Resource Management and Solid Waste Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Kassel, Mönchebergstraße 7, 34125 Kassel, Germany

Resources, 2020, vol. 9, issue 6, 1-25

Abstract: Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) is a major element of modern waste management and produces annually around 5.7 million tonnes of bottom ash (BA) in Germany. In order to save natural resources and protect the environment, utilisable materials need to be recovered from BA. It was the aim of the present study to determine metal and mineral resource potentials of MSWI BA based on a characterisation study of raw and aged BA of the MSWI plant in Kassel (Germany). The BA investigated consisted of 82.2% mineral materials, 16.3% metals, and 1.5% unburnt organic matter. Overall, 12.1% and 3.6% of the MSWI BA were theoretically recoverable as native ferrous (Fe) and non-ferrous (NFe) metals, respectively. Assuming state-of-the-art recovery technology, 10.7% and 2.0% of the BA were actually extractable as Fe and NFe metals. The processed BA, as a mixture, did not comply with current German limit values for use as a construction material mainly due to excessive soluble salt contents. Coarser grain size fractions were less contaminated, resulting in a utilisable potential of less than 30% of the BA as a construction material. Hence, grain-size specific processing routes need to be developed for MSWI BA to fully exploit its mineral resource potential.

Keywords: MSWI; bottom ash; characterisation; mineral fraction; metals; resource potential (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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