Abstract

Waste-to-energy technology is an alternative way to reduce fossil fuels and to secure energy resources. This technology can be readily applied to our real society because non-recyclable but combustible wastes are generated every day and the technology is already available and mature as shown in many facilities for waste incineration. However, this technology incurs environmental and human health concerns due to toxic metals in wastes, which have not been effectively managed because metal- and waste-related risk assessment is too time- and resource-consuming for field facilities. Thus, this study suggests a practical methodology to effectively screen toxic combustible wastes and to identify priority metals to be targeted for pollution prevention; and carries out a case study to demonstrate the methodology. The methodology is based on the assessment of toxicity potentials (for instance, cancer, non-cancer, and eco-toxicity potentials) from metals in combustible wastes on a per-energy basis. The toxicity potential is quantified by using (i) the metal contents and lower heating value (LHV) of a combustible waste and (ii) the characterization factors accounting for the fate, exposure, and effect of metals. A case study is performed by applying the methodology to waste cable coating, waste engine oil, waste paint, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), refuse plastic fuel (RPF), waste medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and wastewater sludge. The case study results showed that the cable coating, engine oil, brown paint, RDF, and wastewater sludge had relatively high toxicity potentials, and their priority metals were lead (Pb), zinc, and copper. This study can be used for waste-to-energy facilities to practically screen toxic waste fuels and to determine post-treatment processes that can effectively remove priority metals.

Graphic Abstract

中文翻译：

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垃圾发电设施筛选有毒可燃废物和优先金属的实用方法

摘要

废物转化能源技术是减少化石燃料和确保能源资源的另一种方法。这项技术可以很容易地应用于我们的现实社会，因为每天都会产生不可回收但可燃的废物，并且该技术已经可用并且已经成熟，如许多废物焚烧设施所示。但是，由于废物中的有毒金属，该技术引起了环境和人类健康问题，由于与金属和废物有关的风险评估对于现场设施来说太耗时和浪费资源，因此尚未得到有效管理。因此，这项研究提出了一种切实可行的方法，可以有效地筛选有毒的可燃废物，并确定要用于污染预防的优先金属；并进行案例研究以说明方法。该方法基于对可燃废物中的金属按能量进行的毒性潜力（例如，癌症，非癌和生态毒性潜力）的评估。通过使用（i）可燃废物的金属含量和较低的热值（LHV）以及（ii）解释金属的命运，暴露和影响的特征因子来量化潜在的毒性。通过将该方法应用于废电缆涂料，废机油，废油漆，垃圾衍生燃料（RDF），垃圾塑化燃料（RPF），废中密度纤维板（MDF）和废水污泥，进行了案例研究。案例研究结果表明，电缆涂料，机油，棕色油漆，RDF和废水污泥具有较高的潜在毒性，其优先金属为铅，铅和铜。

图形摘要