Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 96e100

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Utilization of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash in blended cement

Xiang-Guo Li*, Yang Lv, Bao-Guo Ma, Quan-Bin Chen, Xiao-Bo Yin, Shou-Wei Jian
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of application of municipal solid waste inciner-
Received 26 September 2011 ation (MSWI) bottom ash as a supplementary cementitious material for the preparation of blended
Received in revised form cement. The water demand for normal consistency, setting time, strength and hydration characteristics
29 February 2012
of MSWI bottom ashecement compound matrices were investigated. The results show that the MSWI
Accepted 31 March 2012
bottom ash has some cementitious activity, but the reactivity is relatively lower than Portland cement
Available online 7 April 2012
and its addition to cement may lead to retardation of cement hydration. The incorporation content of
MSWI bottom ash in blended cements was controlled below 30%, which resulted in blended cement of
Keywords:
MSWI bottom ash
strength class 32.5 according to GB 175-2007 (Chinese National Standard). It is also evident that heavy
Pulverized coal fly ash (PFA) metal concentrations in leachates of the blended cements with MSWI bottom ash are far lower than
Blended cement recommended in the GB5085.3-2007.
Strength Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Hydration characteristics
Leaching toxicity

1. Introduction
With rapid urban development, the generation of municipal
solid waste (MSW) has increased drastically. In China, it is esti-
mated that 200 million tons of MSW are generated annually,
accounting for 29% of the total world MSW production (Jun et al.,
2004). As incineration can lead to a great reduction in the quan-
tity of the wastes of 65e80% in mass and 85e90% in volume and
provide usable energy (Hjelmar, 1996; Bierman and Rosen, 1994), it
has been accepted as an effective method of dealing with MSW.
And incineration is in general better than landfilling (Finnveden
et al., 2005). The heat recovery from incineration of MSW has
received much attention (Stehlik, 2009; Tsai, 2010). Two mainly
solid by-products (municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI)
bottom ash and air pollution control fly ash) are produced.
Accounting for nearly 80%, MSWI bottom ash is the most significant
by-product. Safe treatment and reuse of MSWI bottom ash has
become a society and environment problem that needs to be
urgently resolved. At present, most domestic and overseas
researches on MSWI bottom ash are focused on safe disposal, but
few on its utilization (Maria et al., 2008; Lin et al., 2011; Colangelo
et al., 2012; Cornelis et al., 2012). MSWI bottom ash has coarser
dimensions (particles can reach several tens of millimeters in size),
and the amount of chlorides and hazardous chemicals is usually
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ86 27 87661567.
E-mail address: lxggroup@163.com (X.-G. Li).
much lower than that of MSWI FAs (fly ashes). The reuse of that
hazardous waste has been under study for many years and the
interest in it is increasing worldwide for many reasons.
Cement production is a significant industrial activity in terms of
its volumes and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
Approximately 5% of global carbon emissions originate from the
manufacturing of cement (Huntzinger and Eatmon, 2009). Some of
the interesting future development options are an increase in the
use of industrial by-products and defined waste as raw material,
fuel and cement additives (blended cement). If the waste has
binding properties (hydraulic or pozzolanic), it allows a reduction
in the use of Portland cement clinker, which is indirectly beneficial
for the environment because of the reduction of CO2 emissions
associated with the manufacture of Portland cement clinker.
Second, it represents an interesting alternative to final landfill
disposal and, again, the economic impact is significant.
MSWI bottom ash is mainly composed of amorphous silica
(usually more than 50 by wt%), alumina, iron oxide and calcium
oxide, and is quite similar in composition to commonly used
cement additions such as Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag
(GGBFS) and pulverized coal fly ash (PFA). This suggests that finely
ground MSWI bottom ash could have pozzolanic or hydraulic
behavior and its addition to the concrete mix could have a benefi-
cial role in the development of the microstructure of the hydrated
cement paste. Hence, a great advantage in the sustainability of the
concrete industry would be achieved if ground MSWI bottom ash
could actually be used as mineral additions. Several researches have
actually shown the pozzolanic activity of ground MSWI bottom ash

0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.03.038
 X.-G. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 96e100
showing their reactivity with lime or Portland cement clinker and
studied the possibility of recycling fly and bottom ash in the cement
and concrete manufacturing. Pan et al. (2008) and Lam et al. (2011)
have tried to use these residues as raw materials for the production
of Portland cement clinker. Ferraris et al. (2009), Ginés et al. (2009)
and Cioffi et al. (2011) have also indicated that bottom ash could
potentially be used for concrete production.
The overall aim of the present study was to consider the viability
of using MSWI bottom ash or a combination of MSWI bottom ash
and PFA as supplementary cementitious materials for blended
cement production. The research took into account both mechan-
ical aspects which determine whether the cement can be used as
a building material, and environmental aspects (heavy metal
leachability). In addition, the hydration characteristics of the
blended cements with a combination of MSWI bottom ash were
also investigated by means of SEM and XRD. The results can provide
the basis of the safe and recycling utilization of MSWI bottom ash.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
MSWI bottom ash used in this study was obtained from the
Hangzhou MSW Incineration Plant. The Grate furnace incinerator
operates at temperatures between 850 and 1000  C with a capacity
of 650 tons/d. The hot bottom ash is quenched in a wet slag
extractor. Subsequently, the bottom ash is typically collected and
pretreated, including magnetic separation, crushing and screening
at room temperature for removal of metals. A random sampling
method was applied and the sampling period lasted for one week.
Approximately 10 kg fresh bottom ash sample was withdrawn from
various locations in MSW pits of incinerator plants randomly every
day.
Prior to mixed with cement and PFA, the MSWI bottom ash was
ball-milled into fine powder by grinding for 50 min with apparent
density of 2.84 g cm 3 and the sieve residues of 45 mm 4.89%. A class
PII 52.5 Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) with 305 m2 kg 1 specific
surface was supplied from Yadong Cement Co., Ltd in PR China. PFA
used in this study was produced by Wuhan Qinshan Thermoelectric
Plant in PR China. The chemical compositions of MSWI bottom ash,
PFA and OPC are given in Table 1. The sand was the China standard
sand produced by Xiamen ISO Standard Sand Co., Ltd. The water
used for making and curing cement mortars was tap water, and for
the leaching test was de-ionized water (pH ¼ 7.67).
2.2. Experimental procedure
2.2.1. Preparation of test samples
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry was used to determine
the chemical composition of raw materials.
The water demand for normal consistency and setting time were
tested according to Chinese National Standard GB/T 1346-2001. For
Table 1
Chemical composition of MSWI bottom ash, PFA and OPC (wt%).
MSWI bottom ash PFA
SiO2 59.59 50.49
Al2O3 18.61 30.68
Fe2O3 5.50 3.74
CaO 7.58 3.48
Na2O 1.32 0.56
K2O 2.29 1.34
MgO 1.32 0.51
SO3 0.65 0.92
LOIa 0.43 6.22
a
LOI: Loss on ignition.
97
the mechanical properties of MSWI bottom ashecement matrices,
under the same flowability condition, these mortar specimens with
10e50% (by weight) cement replaced with the equivalent amount
of MSWI bottom ash or PFA were mixed in a standard laboratory
mixer, casted into molds of 40 mm  40 mm  160 mm prism. After
24 h, they were demolded and stored in a curing room at
a temperature of 20  1  C and relative humidity at 96  2% for
different ages. Then, compressive and flexural strength of mortar
specimens in different hydration ages were tested.
2.2.2. Heavy metals leaching concentrations test
The leachability of heavy metals in the specimens was studied
by the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure according to EPA
method 1312 and GB5085.3 (in China). Accordingly, specimen
(<5 mm) was agitated with glacial acetic acid buffer solution
(pH ¼ 2.88  0.05) for 18 h at the temperature of 25  C maintaining
a 1:20 sample-to-fluid ratio at the frequency of 130r/min. After
agitation, leachates were collected by 0.8 mm glass fiber filters and
acidified with HNO3 to pH < 2 for conservation. The concentrations
in the filtrate were determined by inductively coupled plasma-
atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES).
2.2.3. Hydration properties test
The crystalline minerals present in the hydration products were
identified using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) measurements in
a D/max-IIIA diffractometer with Cu Ka radiation and a position
sensitive detector. The accelerating voltage was 35 kV, and the
current was 30 mA. Data were recorded digitally, and peak position
and intensity were determined either on screen or using the
peakfinder feature in the software. Identification of compounds
was made by a manual search of the JCPDS database as a source of
reference data.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was carried out on a JSM-
5610 microscope to investigate the morphology of hydration
products. Specimens were mounted onto aluminum stubs using
double-sided adhesive carbon discs and sputter coated with gold.
To ensure that electrical charge was efficiently carried away from
cement paste specimen surfaces, a line of silver paint was applied
connecting the specimen sides to the stub.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Characteristic of MSWI bottom ash and PFA
As shown in Table 1, it is evident that the main chemical
compositions in the MSWI bottom ash belong to
CaOeSiO2eAl2O3eFe2O3 system, which is analogy with the
common pozzolanic mineral admixtures used in cement-based
materials. Compared with the PFA, MSW are combusted more
completely in the incinerator, contributing to the low LOI in bottom
ash, even to 0.43%. Moreover, the LOI of the PFA are higher (above
3.65%), which may be due to the unburned coal particles in PFA.
Fig. 1 illustrates SEM photography of the ground MSWI bottom
ash and PFA. The surface of bottom ash has numerous piecemeal
materials and irregular particles. PFA is characterized by a more
OPC
uniform distribution of spheric granules with a fairly smooth
22.3
surface. This is probably because the particles of fly ash usually
5.41
2.77
experience higher temperatures and the spheric drops form due to
60.16 the shrinkage of liquid-phase under the surface tension.
0.07
0.78
2.65 3.2. Water demand for normal consistency and setting time
2.41
3.10 The water demand for normal consistency and setting time of
the matrices are presented in Table 2.
98 X.-G. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 96e100

Fig. 1. SEM images of MSWI bottom ash and PFA.

As shown in Table 2, the incorporation of MSWI bottom ash and its addition to cement may lead to retardation of cement
slightly increases the water demand for normal consistency, which hydration. So we set the limit of MSWI bottom ash replacement of
is increased with increasing of the content of MSWI bottom ash. At cement at 30% to ensure the property of the mortars.
the same time, the initial and final of setting time is slightly Moreover, to allow comparisons to be made between MSWI
retarded than the control specimen. Experimental results indicate bottom ash and PFA, it is better to calculate the activity index (i.e.
that the MSWI bottom ash includes high content cations such as the compressive strength of standard mortar bars prepared with
Zn2þ, Pb2þ, Cd2þ and Cu2þ, which can retard setting time and 70% test cement plus 30% addition by mass, expressed as
hydration of cement (Murat and Sorrentino, 1996; Shi and Kan, a percentage of the compressive strength of standard mortar bars
2009). When the addition of MSWI bottom ash is beyond 50%, prepared with 100% test cement). The variation of the activity index
the water demand for normal consistency is increased about 14.5%, of MSWI bottom ash and PFA is 74% and 71%, respectively. Conse-
initial and final setting time of the specimens are delayed about quently, when MSWI bottom ash and PFA are added into cement
76 min and 136 min, respectively. Consequently, in the later study with the same substitution, MSWI bottom ash-blended cement
the incorporation content of MSWI bottom ash in blended cements shows a higher strength than those of PFA-blended cement.
is controlled below 30%.
3.4. Heavy metal leachability
3.3. Strength of the blended cements
The MSWI bottom ash contains various toxic substances espe-
The effects of the content of MSWI bottom ash or PFA on flexural cially the easily leachable heavy metals, so it is regarded as a serious
and compressive strength of cement mortars at 3 and 28 days are threat against surrounding. In order to recycle MSWI bottom ash as
presented in Table 3. a replacement for cement mixtures, the leachability of matrices is
As shown in Table 3 that the flexural and compressive strength an important index to evaluate the adsorption behavior and
of the mortar specimens at 3d and 28d decrease gradually with immobilizing effect. TCLP tests are carried out for the crushed
increasing of MSWI bottom ash or PFA content. Moreover, early hardened mortars at 28d. The heavy metals leaching toxicity of the
strength of the matrices decreases rapidly when the MSWI bottom crushed hardened mortars are shown in Table 4.
ash content is over 20%. This shows that the cementitious activity of
MSWI bottom ash or PFA content is lower, and it delays the Table 3
hydration of cement as the content is increased. The 50% replace- Effect of MSWI bottom ash or PFA on strength of the blended cements.
ment of cement by MSWI bottom ash in mortars showed deterio-
Sample Mix proportion (wt%) Flexural Compressive
ration in strength evolution (compressive strength of about 50% of strength (MPa) strength (MPa)
the reference mortars at 3 and 28d), while the 10%, 20% and 30%
OPC MSWI PFA 3d 28d 3d 28d
replacement showed much better strength properties. However,
bottom ash
the 28 day compressive strength of 30% replacement was 38.9 MPa,
C0 100 0 0 6.07 9.37 22.3 52.6
which exceeded strength class 32.5 according to Chinese National C1 90 10 0 5.78 8.91 20.7 45.9
Standard GB 175-2007 and could also be used in some particular C2 80 20 0 5.49 8.41 18.9 42.5
conditions. The results above indicate that the MSWI bottom ash C3 70 30 0 4.83 7.95 16.7 38.9
has some cementitious activity, but the reactivity is relatively lower C4 50 50 0 3.04 7.38 10.10 29.2
C5 70 0 30 4.79 7.84 15.9 37.4
C6 70 20 10 4.79 8.50 16.45 39.60
C7 70 10 20 4.58 8.41 16.17 39.30
Table 2
C8 60 30 10 4.18 7.64 13.70 34.60
Water demand for normal consistency and setting time of the blended cements.

Sample Mix proportion (wt%) Water demand Setting time (min)

for normal
OPC MSWI bottom Initial Final Table 4
consistency (%)
ash setting setting The heavy metals leachability of blended cements (mg/L).
C0 100 0 25.7 182 224
C1 90 10 26.0 206 258 Sample Cr Cd Zn Ni Cu Pb
C2 80 20 27.2 208 266 MSWI bottom ash 0.652 0.289 20.95 0.139 15.334 0.345
C3 70 30 27.8 224 292 C3 0.124 0.080 6.230 0.087 3.470 0.082
C4 50 50 29.3 258 350 GB5085.3-2007 (Chinese) 15 1 100 5 100 5
 X.-G. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 96e100 99

Fig. 2. XRD patterns of hardened cement paste C0, C1 and C3.

It is indicated that heavy metals leaching concentrations of the
blended cements with MSWI bottom ash is far lower than that of
the Chinese National Standard GB5085.3-2007, and minimum
harmful matters can be contained and released in the environment,
which may be due to the immobilization of heavy metal by the
hydration products(CeSeH and AFt). Even if the hardened pastes
were damaged into size of smaller than 5 mm, the heavy metals
leaching concentrations are in the safety range. As a matter of fact,
compared with the experimental condition, hardened pastes
leaching in situ is a slow and gradually diluting process and only
few grains are smaller than 5 mm in size, so the heavy metals-
immobilizing of blended cement matrices containing MSWI
bottom ash could be more reliable in the practical environment.
3.5. Hydration characteristics of blended cement containing MSWI
bottom ash
3.5.1. XRD analysis
The effect of MSWI bottom ash on the phase composition of the
hardened cement pastes curing 3d and 28d were observed by XRD,
as presented in Fig. 2.
It can be seen from Fig. 2, the value of a-SiO2 peak of control
specimen is the smallest and a-SiO2 peak strength increases with
the increasing of MSWI bottom ash, which may be due to the large
amount of a-SiO2 in MSWI bottom ash. The peak value of calcium
hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) in blended cement pastes are lower than that
of the control specimen, and decreases with the increasing of MSWI

Fig. 3. SEM images of hardened cement paste with or without MSWI bottom ash.
100 X.-G. Li et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 32 (2012) 96e100
bottom ash. It illustrates that active silicon dioxide and aluminum
oxide in MSWI bottom ash take place pozzolanic reaction with
Ca(OH)2 produced from hydration of cement. On the other hand, the
incorporation of MSWI bottom ash as the replacement of cement
reduces the amount of cement resulting in the decreasing content of
Ca(OH)2. Furthermore, with the delay of curing age, the Ca(OH)2
content in all the specimens are reduced due to the full hydration.
3.5.2. SEM analysis
SEM images of the hardened cement paste are shown in Fig. 3.
It can be seen from Fig. 3 that Ca(OH)2 crystal and CeSeH gel are
formed in the hydration cement pastes curing for 3d (shown in
Fig. 3(a) and (b)).Furthermore, the size of Ca(OH)2 crystal in C3 is
smaller than that of C0, it indicates that the added MSWI bottom
ash slows down the hydration reaction. With the delay of hydration
process (28d), more CeSeH gel is produced, which leads to
a denser microstructure of the matrices (shown in Fig. 3(c) and (d)).
Rich silica gel is formed when MSWI bottom ash mixed with water,
then the gel absorbs moisture to gather together between the
unhydrated cement particles, and gradually enwraps cement
particles resulting in the cement strength reduction and significant
increase of the water requirement of normal consistency. With the
delay of hydration process, CeSeH gel is formed as a result of the
pozzolanic effect between Ca(OH)2 and the surface of rich silica gel.
And a few unhydrated MWSI bottom ash still exists in C3 at the
curing age of 28d (shown in Fig. 3 (d)).
4. Conclusions
The mechanical properties of MSWI bottom ashecement
matrices are gradually decreased with the addition amount of
MSWI bottom ash. The cementitious potential of MSWI bottom ash
is relatively lower and it delays the hydration of cement to a certain
extent. Consequently, in this study the incorporation content of
MSWI bottom ash in blended cements is controlled below 30%,
which can prepare blended cement of strength class 32.5 according
to Chinese National Standard GB 175-2007.
Heavy metals leaching concentrations of the blended cements
with MSWI bottom ash is far lower than that of the Chinese
National Standard GB5085.3-2007, and minimum harmful matters
can be contained and released in the environment.
Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) in blended cement pastes
decreases with the increasing of MSWI bottom ash, which is due to
the reaction between Ca(OH)2 and active SiO2. With the delay of
hydration process, a denser microstructure of the matrices is
formed due to more and more CeSeH gel produced, but a few
unhydrated MWSI bottom ash still exists in cement pastes con-
taining MWSI bottom ash at 28d.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial supports by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (51002110), the 973 Program
from Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2009CB623201)
and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(2010-IV-054).
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