The Immobilisation of Heavy Metals from Sewage Sludge Ash in CO 2 -Cured Mortars

Erick Grünhäuser Soares, João Castro-Gomes, Mateusz Sitarz, Tomasz Zdeb and Izabela Hager
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Erick Grünhäuser Soares: Centre of Materials and Building Technologies (C–MADE), Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Beira Interior (UBI), 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
João Castro-Gomes: Centre of Materials and Building Technologies (C–MADE), Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Beira Interior (UBI), 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Mateusz Sitarz: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Cracow, Poland
Tomasz Zdeb: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Cracow, Poland
Izabela Hager: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Cracow, Poland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: Sewage treatment processes are a serious environmental threat due to the difficulties involved in its waste management and disposal. Therefore, one developing trend in sewage sludge processing is its thermal treatment, which generates sewage sludge ash that may contain many environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals. Moreover, due to the European Union requirements that not only focus on the waste generation reduction but also on its reuse and final disposal, it is essential to pursue new applications of such resources, such as the waste-based material incorporation into alternative cementitious materials. Thus, this study evaluated the heavy metals leachability of CO 2 -cured mortars incorporating sewage sludge ash as filler. For this purpose, Portland cement, reactive magnesia, and electric arc furnace slag were used to produce three different CO 2 -cured mortars, which were cured though pressurised accelerated carbonation curing for 24h. These mortars presented up to 12.7 MPa as compressive strength and their carbonation was confirmed by TG-DTG and FT-IR analyses. Their leachability of heavy metals met the European requirements for all waste materials, including inert materials, and post-industrial wastewater. Therefore, the immobilisation of heavy metals in this binding technology may be considered an effective method to safely manage sewage sludge ash.

Keywords: CO 2 -cured mortar; CO 2 adsorption; heavy metal immobilisation; leaching; sewage sludge ash; electric arc furnace slag; carbonated reactive magnesia cement; Portland cement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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