Antimony, its Sources, Applications and Flow Paths into Urban and Industrial Waste. A Review.

The sources of antimony in municipal waste and the consequences of the presence of antimony in input of waste incinerators were investigated. It is concluded that more that 59% of the antimony is originating from all types of flame retardants and that about 35% of the antimony streams is coming from flame retardants from consumer electronics. There is a tendency to decrease the application of halogenated products in flame retardants. Also the other fields of application of antimony show a decreasing trend. There is no indication that a substantial increase of the concentration of antimony in the feed to municipal waste incinerators will occur in the near future. During the incineration process, the antimony compounds are only found in the slags and in the fly ash. No volatile Sb compounds are present in the flue gas. this means that efficacious particle removal systems are sufficient for a complete Sb removal during incineration.JRC.(EI)-Environment Institut