Poultry litter ash characterisation and recovery

This paper reports a complete characterisation of poultry litter ash and its potential use as a heavy metal stabiliser. We propose a novel approach, in which the ashes deriving from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) are combined with poultry litter ash, rather than with coal combustion flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) residues. Heavy metals stabilisation was demonstrated by comparing the elemental concentrations in the leaching solutions of the starting raw and stabilised materials: leachable Pb and Zn showed a reduced solubility. The characterisation was conducted by total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDX). The results showed that the poultry litter ash was Ca-, P-, K- and S-rich (>29 g/kg). It contained amorphous materials (i.e. fly ash economiser (FAECO) 73% and fly ash cyclone (FACYC) 61%) and soluble phases (e.g. arkanite and sylvite; up to 13% FAECO and 28% FACYC), as well as resilient crystalline (up to 2% of FAECO and FACYC) and amorphous phases (e.g. hydroxyapatite). After two months, the Pb and Zn concentrations in the leachate solutions were below the limit set by the European regulations for waste disposal (<0.2 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L, respectively). We propose a mechanism for the heavy metals stabilisation based on the carbonation process and high amounts of P, Ca and reactive amorphous phases. In conclusion, it is demonstrated that poultry litter ash can be an effective secondary source of heavy metals, allowing their immobilisation through P- and Ca-based reactive amorphous phases.