Analytical Sciences

Crystal Morphology Analysis for Heavy Elements in Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Fly and Bottom Ash by X-ray Characterization Techniques

Atsushi OHBUCHI,*,** Yuya KOIKE,*** and Toshihiro NAKAMURA**,***

*Rigaku Americas Corporation, 9009 New Trails Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77381, USA
**Rigaku Corporation, 3-9-12 Matsubara-cho, Akishima, Tokyo 196-8666, Japan
***Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, Meiji University, 1-1-1 Higashimita, Tama, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 214-8571, Japan

The elemental and crystalline phase compositions of fly ash collected before and after spraying of the ash with slaked lime (first and second fly ash) and the bottom ash of municipal solid waste collected at an incineration plant were analyzed using powder briquette by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and Rietveld refinement by X-ray diffraction. The crystalline and amorphous phase contents were quantified by adding 10% corundum as an internal standard. In the first fly ash, SiO₂, Cl, and CaO were the main components, and several thousand ppm (μg/g) of Zn and Pb were detected. Anhydrite, gehlenite, and amorphous phases were the main phases in the first fly ash samples. The components of the first fly ash originated exclusively from the incineration of municipal solid waste in a furnace. The crystal morphologies of the heavy elements in the ash samples were estimated by determining the correlations among the concentrations of all the elements. The heavy elements in the bottom ash showed no strong correlations with other elements; therefore, the heavy elements in the bottom ash were present in an amorphous phase.

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