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Experimental study on solidification/stabilization of leachate sludge by sulfoaluminate cement and MSWI by-products

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Abstract

Leachate sludge is generated from the biochemical treatment sludge tank for disposing the leachate from landfill municipal solid waste (MSW). It has the characteristics of high water content and high organic matter content. Sulfoaluminate cement (SAC) is used as the main curing agent, and municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) by-products are used as auxiliary curing agents to solidify/stabilize the leachate sludge. The influences of SAC content and MSWI by-products content on the strength and solidification mechanism of the leachate sludge are investigated by unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test and micro-observation tests. Moreover, the leaching concentration of heavy metals of the solidified samples is analyzed by leaching toxicity test. The results show that the UCS of the solidified samples increases with an increase in cement content. When the cement content is larger than 20%, the UCS of the solidified samples satisfies the strength requirement of landfill. The enhancing effect of bottom ash on the cement-solidified samples is slight. The fly ash is a good auxiliary curing agent for improving the UCS of cement-solidified samples, and the optimal dosage of fly ash is 5% and 15% for the solidified samples with 10 ~ 30% and 40 ~ 50% cement content, respectively. Ten percent fly ash can replace 10% cement to achieve better solidification effect for the solidified samples. The leaching concentration of heavy metals in the solidified sample with 30%/40% cement and 15% fly ash/bottom ash can satisfy the strength and leaching toxicity requirements of landfill. The immobilization of heavy metal of the cement and MSWI by-products solidified samples is mainly achieved through physical adsorption, physical encapsulation, ion exchange, and chemical precipitation.

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Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 52078142) and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (grant number 2022A1515011047) provided financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Deluan Feng, Jie Wang, Dongyao Chen & Shihua Liang

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  1. Deluan Feng
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  2. Jie Wang
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  3. Dongyao Chen
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  4. Shihua Liang
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Contributions

Deluan Feng: conceptualization, methodology. Jie Wang: data curation, writing — original draft preparation. Dongyao Chen: test, date; Shihua Liang: writing — reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Shihua Liang.

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Feng, D., Wang, J., Chen, D. et al. Experimental study on solidification/stabilization of leachate sludge by sulfoaluminate cement and MSWI by-products. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 5071–5085 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31470-z

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