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Effects of sulfur on variations in the chemical speciation of heavy metals from fly ash glass

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Abstract

This work designed a new CaO−Al2O3−SiO2−SO3 glass for the immobilization of multiple heavy metals found in dechlorinated fly ash having high amounts of calcium and sulfur. Increasing the (CaO + SO3)/SiO2 mass ratio (M(CS/S)) from 0.28 to 0.85 was found to lower the proportions of Mn, Ni and Zn in an unstable state, while an M(CS/S) ratio of 0.51 gave the lowest proportions of unstable Cr and Pb. Decreasing the degree of polymerization of the glassy network increased the proportions of Mn, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn in the carbonate bound state. The leaching out of metals in this state was the primary cause of degradation of Q3 structural units in the glassy network. The amount of Mn in the iron-manganese oxide bound state was increased by increasing the number of Q2 units in the silicate network. Decreasing the CaO/SiO2 mass ratio (M(C/S)) raised the proportions of Mn, Ni and Zn in the unstable state. An M(C/S) value of 0.43 lowered the proportions of unstable Cr and Pb. A principal components analysis determined that the leaching of toxic heavy metals from the glass was primarily related to the proportions of these metals in the unstable state while there were no evident correlations between leaching and the proportions in stable states.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52070181 and 51934006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Electronic and Information Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yali Chang, Chenyang Xu & Mengzhuo Long

  2. CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, National Engineering Research Center of Green Recycling for Strategic Metal Resources, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Yali Chang, Jianwei Cao, Wenfeng Song, Zhi Wang & Mengzhuo Long

Authors
  1. Yali Chang
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  2. Jianwei Cao
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  3. Wenfeng Song
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  4. Zhi Wang
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  5. Chenyang Xu
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  6. Mengzhuo Long
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jianwei Cao, Zhi Wang or Chenyang Xu.

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Highlights

• A higher sulfur content reduced the curing rate of Cr in glass.

• Depolymerization increased the amounts of heavy metals in the carbonate bound state.

• Reducing the CaO/SiO2 ratio increased the proportion of stable heavy metals.

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Chang, Y., Cao, J., Song, W. et al. Effects of sulfur on variations in the chemical speciation of heavy metals from fly ash glass. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 17, 128 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1728-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1728-7

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