Material distribution in treated MSWI bottom ash fractions

Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) reduces the mass and volume of the waste by about 70% and 90%, respectively. Next to boiler and fly ash, solid MSWI Bottom Ash (BA) makes up for 80% of the remaining material and contains unburned matter, glass, ceramics, metals, and minerals. At present BA is used in low-grade applications (such as road base) or landfilled. In order to make a higher-end application possible, correlations between physical properties, size fractions, and mineralogical composition have been studied. Within the various BA fractions, the different material components possess inherent properties affecting their suitability as concrete constituent; convenient material assessment procedures are therefore required to assess treatment processes and to guarantee the quality and applicability of the produced material