Title: Heavy metals in wet scrubber residue from a medium-sized (32 MW) municipal district heating plant incinerating wood and peat in a fluidised bed boiler

Authors: Risto Pöykiö; Hannu Nurmesniemi; Olli Dahl

Addresses: Environmental Research Division, The Town Planning and Building Committee, City of Kemi, Valtakatu 26, FI 94100, Kemi, Finland ' Stora Enso Oyj, Veitsiluoto Mill, FI 94800 Kemi, Finland ' Department of Forest Products, Helsinki University of Technology TKK, Cleantech Team, P.O. 6300, FI 02015 Espoo, Finland

Abstract: Due to the low total concentrations of heavy metals and extractable compounds, it is recommended that the wet scrubber residue be used as a construction agent instead of being disposed of in landfills. According to five-stage sequential extraction, the highest concentrations of most of the heavy metals occurred in the residual fraction (i.e., HF + HNO3 + HCl), which means that the heavy metals in the wet scrubber residue are tightly bound to the matrix. This is a favourable phenomenon, if the residue is utilised in earth construction.

Keywords: ash; earth construction; extraction; flue gas; heavy metals; wet scrubber residue; district heating; wood; peat; fluidised bed boilers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2012.049842

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2012 Vol.10 No.4, pp.377 - 390

Published online: 13 Dec 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article