Influence of coexisting surface-active agents on leachability of dioxins in raw and treated fly ash from an MSW incinerator

The leaching behavior of dioxins from raw and treated fly ash (FA) under the coexistence of several types of surface-active agents (SAAs) was examined by batch leaching tests to obtain significant information not only for evaluating leachability of dioxins as hydrophobic organic pollutants (HOPs) under the severe environment in which SAAs coexist, but also for evaluating the reduction efficiency of dioxin-leachability from the treated FA. Enhancement of dioxin-leachability by sufficient addition of SAAs was observed in the leaching test, whereas addition of a smaller quantity depressed the leachability. The higher the degree of chlorination in PCDDs/PCDFs homologues, the more effectively the SAAs enhanced the leachability. Moreover, there was a large difference in the potential for leachability enhancement due to each surface activity, based on critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the SAAs although Aldrich humic acid enhanced the leachability at a much lower concentration than CMC. A comparison of the leachability in FA treated by several methods showed a difference in the reduction efficiency of leachability, depending on the adsorption of SAAs by each treated FA.