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Combustion characteristics of tannery sludge and volatilization of heavy metals in combustion

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Abstract

Incineration is considered one of the most readily available techniques for sewage sludge disposal, including tannery sludge, which often contains significant amounts of volatile heavy metals. The combustion characteristics and kinetic analysis of tannery sludge were investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at a heating rate of 30 °C/min in 50–950 °C. In addition to confirming that tannery sludge has a high content of volatile material and ash, it was further discovered that almost all the zinc (Zn) in tannery sludge is volatilized at 900 °C. The degree of volatilization for heavy metals at 900 °C followed the order of Zn>Cd>Cu>Mn>Pb>Cr. Moreover, the volatilization of these heavy metals increased with temperature. It is thus concluded that, to avoid heavy metal volatization during incineration disposal, 800 °C is a reasonable incineration temperature.

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Correspondence to Xu-guang Jiang.

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Project supported by the National High-Tech Research and Development (863) Program of China (Nos. 2007AA061302 and 2007AA06Z336), the Key Project of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province, China (No. 2007C13084), the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. X506312 and R107532), the Project on Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province (No. 2008C23090), China, the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (No. NCET-05-0524), and the Y. C. TANG Disciplinary Development Fund of Zhejiang University, China

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Jiang, Xg., Li, Cy., Fei, Zw. et al. Combustion characteristics of tannery sludge and volatilization of heavy metals in combustion. J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. A 11, 530–537 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.A0900414

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.A0900414

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