Małgorzata Kajda-Szcześniak

Fly ash generated in the process of combustion of municipal waste is classified as hazardous waste. Its management today has become a significant problem. One of the methods of safe management of such ash may be using it for the production of concrete as a partial replacement for cement. Using immobilization, the number of hazardous compounds could be limited so that the obtained new material would be safe for the natural environment. Recovery of byproducts—in this case, fly ash—complies with the business models applied in the production cycle in the circular economy model. Such a solution may result in saving energy, limiting CO₂ emissions, reducing the use of natural resources, and management of dangerous waste. It should be added that concretes with the addition of hazardous waste would be used for industrial purposes according to the binding legal regulations. This article presents the influence of the addition of fly ash on the selected mechanical properties of concrete. Fly ash from the incineration of municipal waste was used as a partial replacement of CEM I concrete at amounts of 4%, 8%, and 18% of its mass. The compressive strength and flexural strength of such concretes were tested after 28 days of concrete curing. This article also presents the tests of the leachability of contaminants from fly ash and concretes produced with Portland cement CEM I. The test results confirm that immobilization is an effective process that limits the amount of contamination in the water extract. Zinc, lead, and chrome were almost completely immobilized by the C-S-H (calcium silicate hydrate) concrete phase, with their immobilization degree exceeding 99%. Chloride content also underwent immobilization at a similar level of 99%. The sulfates were immobilized at the level of 96%. The subject matter discussed in this article is essential because, to protect the natural environment and, thus, reduce the use of natural resources, it is increasingly necessary to reuse raw materials—not natural, but recycled from the industry. Waste often contains hazardous compounds. A proposal for their safe disposal is their immobilization in a cement matrix. An important aspect is reducing leachability from concrete as much as possible, e.g., using nanomaterials. The effectiveness of reducing the leachability of hazardous compounds with the proposed method was checked in this study.

In Europe there are nearly 500 incinerators. There are over 2000 of them in the world. It is estimated that the combustion of 1 ton (Mg) of waste produces about 250–300 kg of slag. Due to the large amounts of this waste, the construction industry’s demand for raw materials and the reduction of CO₂ emissions, research was undertaken to use slags as a cement component. The problem was complex because slags generated in the thermal treatment of municipal waste have different chemical compositions and physical properties and contain variable amounts of impurities. The choice of chemical analyses of slag was dictated by the potential influence on the properties of cement mortars. The total moisture of raw slag (4–10%), the bulk density (600–1267 kg/m³) and the specific surface after grinding (over 3000 cm²/g) were determined. The pH (11.9) and the content of sulphates (3.5% by weight), chlorides (0.3% by weight) and selected heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Pb) were measured in the aqueous extract. The obtained results of the washing test were compared with the values resulting from the currently binding legal regulations. In the next step, cement mortars with 30% addition of tested slags were designed and made. The article presents the results of compressive strength tests, which were compared with the results of samples without the addition of slag. The addition of slag to the cement mortar decreased S_MSWI 1 by 64% and S_MSWI 2 by 31%. The high loss of strength and the swelling of the S_MSWI 1 test led to the activation of the NaOH slag. In the endurance test, an increase from 16 to 32 MPa was recorded. Preliminary studies show that the addition of slag in the cement mortar allows obtaining the strength at the level of 30–32 MPa.