Emission and control of heavy metals in municipal solid waste incineration power plants

Abstract

With the increasing production of municipal solid waste (MSW), MSW incineration power plants have become one of the main emission sources for heavy metals in China. Aiming at addressing the pollution problem of heavy metals caused by MSW incineration, this paper summarizes the emission status of MSW incineration power plants in China, overviews control standards of heavy metals at home and abroad, and points out that the emission and control of heavy metals should not be ignored under the continuous increasing production of MSW. Besides, the migration and transformation behavior of heavy metals during MSW incineration is summarized from three aspects: volatilization behavior, speciation transformation, and mass distribution in incineration products. The influencing factors of volatilization and reaction mechanism of speciation transformation are analyzed. The effects on migration and distribution of heavy metals when co-incineration with other organic solid wastes are also introduced. Finally, the control technologies of heavy metals in MSW incineration plants are summarized. Meanwhile, the removal effects of adsorbents, air pollution control devices and fly ash treatment methods on heavy metals are introduced in detail. It is of great importance to strengthening the synergistic removal capacity of air pollution control devices (APCDs) and developing high efficiency adsorbents which could resist acid gas. Moreover, the leaching risk of heavy metals should be paid more attention in fly ash after solidification and stabilization.

Keywords

• msw incineration power plants
• heavy metals
• emission characteristics
• migration and transformation behavior
• control technologies