Hampshire, UK based Cleansing Service Group (CSG), has developed a technology at its specialist hazardous waste handling facility to treat incinerator Air Pollution Control (APC) residue to the extent that it can be disposed in landfill.
The company explained that APC residues are the product of processes used to control air pollution and capture heavy metal emissions and neutralise acid gases at waste to energy facilities.
According to CSG its newly installed process for treating the hazardous residue means the corrosive materials will allow it to “significantly increase” the volume of APC residues that it processes.
The Environment Agency permitted process, which CSG said has undergone a 12 month trial programme, has gone now into operation at the firm’s facility at Cadishead, near Manchester, where the system was developed.
The lime-based residues were said to be difficult to treat and recycle because they contain hazardous contaminants including high levels of chlorides and heavy metals making the waste unsuitable for landfill where there is a possibility of leaching.
The company said that the increasing use of waste to energy plants to treat wastes means that the volume of residue has rapidly expanded and it’s estimated that some 170,000 tonnes of APC residue is created each year in the UK.
However, according to CSG the residues have one advantage which waste managers attempting to treat it can exploit – the lime rich ashes have pozzolanic properties similar to cement which can be used in a treatment process to help solidification and reduce the possibility of leaching of metal contaminants.
CSG’s process was said to be designed to use these properties by blending the residue with non-hazardous liquid wastes during which leachable metals become immobilised and liquids are solidified to produce a waste which meets the Landfill Waste Acceptance Criteria.
The company added that the process akin to producing a concrete mix with the contaminants trapped inside.
The process was also claimed to treat dusty wastes which would otherwise be hazardous to handle, as well as providing a treatment route for non-recoverable liquids such as detergents, paints and polymers, which would be toxic to a waste water treatment works.
“Hazardous APC residue management is becoming a major waste treatment priority as the use of incineration grows,” explained CSG’s Cadishead operations manager, Jen Cartmell. “We have invested £100,000 in the development of a workable solution and now expect a significant increase in this part of our business.”
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