Fuel 352 (2023) 129027

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Fuel
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel

Full Length Article

The impact of pollutant emissions from co-incineration of industrial waste

in municipal solid waste incinerators
Peng-Tao Cai a, Tong Chen a, b, *, Bei Chen a, Yu-Chun Wang a, Zeng-Yi Ma a, Jian-Hua Yan a
a
China State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, Zhejiang Province, China
b
Jiaxing Research Institute, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314051, Zhejiang Province, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: A large amount of industrial solid waste (including waste plastics, textiles, wood, etc., which are byproducts of
Industrial waste industrial production) urgently needs to be treated. Incineration is undoubtedly the most efficient and conve­
Flue gas pollutants nient method. The existing municipal solid waste incineration plants can be transformed to burn such industrial
Heavy metals
wastes. However, the potential risks associated with high levels of heavy metals in industrial waste and the air
Influencing factors
pollution caused by co-incineration pose significant challenges to the co-incineration disposal of industrial solid
Co-incineration
waste. The change of physical and chemical properties of municipal solid waste and the emission characteristics
of flue gas pollutants after co-incineration of industrial waste were studied by means of material flow simulation
and experiment. In addition, experiments were designed to study the effects of temperature, calcium sulfur ratio
and chlorine content on heavy metal emission during the incineration of industrial waste. The results showed
that co-incineration of a certain proportion of industrial waste significantly increased the calorific value of
municipal solid waste, but excessive mixing of plastic and paper industrial waste would increase the ash content.
Co-incineration of plastic industrial waste can significantly increase HCl, and with the increase of temperature,
the transformation of Cl to HCl is more thorough. The increase of temperature can promote the migration of Cr,
Pb and Se elements to the gas phase. When Cr, Pb, and Se elements are present in the gas phase, they can
combine with other gases and aerosols to form particulate matter and toxic substances, causing air pollution.
When Ca/S is 1, Ba, Mn, Ni, Zn can effectively reduce the retention rate of elements in the ash. Under certain
conditions, chlorine in industrial waste plastics will react with Zn to form tiny particles and low boiling point
chlorides, which will increase its volatility. The mineral components in the ash can also be used for making
ceramsite and building materials. These results will provide reference for the pollutants controlling during co-
incineration of industrial waste and municipal solid waste process.

1. Introduction
The harmless disposal of large amounts of industrial waste disposal is
considered to be of great concern to society today. A large volume of
industrial waste was typically concentrated in three categories: plastic,
textile and paper [10,22,1]. Although the recycling of industrial waste
plastics has become more and more common, at least 30% of waste
plastics cannot be recycled through economic and environmental
methods due to inconsistent classification standards, inadequate modi­
fied granulation technology and lack of supporting environmental pro­
tection technology [2]. In the paper industry, the amount of residue
generated was equivalent to 50% of the paper production [11]. And the
textile sector, one of the industrial sectors generating the largest amount
of waste, is expected to triple the amount of waste textile by 2050 [27].
The most common methods of industrial waste disposal were burial,
impurity removal, storage and reuse, or use as secondary feedstock for
oil refining and coal, pellet, pyrolysis, gasification and combustion
[12,33]. For large volumes of industrial waste, most treatment and
cleaning methods were fairly limited. Sorting methods have low disposal
efficiency, chemical recycling methods require a large amount of energy
and chemicals, and biological treatment has strict conditions. [12,37,9].
Incineration was the simplest and most effective way to dispose of high
calorific value industrial organic solid waste [31,21].
The elemental composition of industrial waste was different from
that of municipal solid waste (MSW), and the blending process may
increase the emission of acidic gases such as HCl and SO2 [28]; Gupta

* Corresponding author at: Jiaxing Research Institute, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314051, Zhejiang Province, China.
E-mail address: chentong@zju.edu.cn (T. Chen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2023.129027
Received 29 January 2023; Received in revised form 17 May 2023; Accepted 15 June 2023
Available online 26 June 2023
0016-2361/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
P.-T. Cai et al.
et al., 2020; [32]. The combustion behavior of different types of in­
dustrial waste is extremely different from that of MSW. The operating
parameters need to be adjusted accordingly when blending different
industrial wastes in order to ensure stable plant operation [21].
Furthermore, heavy metal migration from industrial manufacturing
processes has resulted in additional heavy metals in industrial waste,
and the incineration process may increase heavy metal emissions
[3,13,14]. Most of these heavy metals were from the post-processing
process, such as softening tough water, desizing and refining, bleach­
ing, printing and additional processes of various metal complexes [25].
For natural fiber fabrics, heavy metals may come from environmental
pollution, such as lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and other heavy
metals in the growth process of plant fibers through environmental
migration and bioconcentration of natural fibers [6]. Plus, the process of
blending industrial waste inevitably leads to the generation of solid by-
products, as ash and slag often contain toxic and environmentally
harmful substances [18,35].
Therefore, this research focused on quantitatively evaluating the
potential effects of blending industrial waste on MSW incineration. First,
the different compositions and properties of industrial waste and MSW
were studied, and the fluctuation patterns of Lower Heating Value (LHV)
and ash content of blended industrial waste, as well as the source in­
tensity of acid gas in the flue gas were investigated by simulations and
verified by experiments. Then experiments were designed to investigate
the impact of temperature, calcium-sulfur ratio, and chlorine content on
the distribution patterns of heavy metals in flue gas, particulate matter,
and ash during the incineration of industrial waste. Finally, the ash
residue after the experiments was collected and analyzed by XRD to
investigate the possibility of its recycling. The results of this study
provide more insight into the effects of industrial waste blending pol­
lutants in garbage furnaces, thus providing guidance for the trans­
formation of waste incineration industry to co-incineration of industrial
wastes.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Prediction calculation using material flow model
2.1.1. Composition of MSW and industrial waste
Based on the study by Long et al. [17] of Tsinghua University, the
main combustible components in MSW can be screened out. Weight loss
curves were tested by using thermogravimetric analysis to obtain their
respective thermal conversion characteristics. Then, by adjusting the
type and proportion of nine basic substances: cellulose, hemicellulose,
lignin, starch, PE, PVC, PP, PS and PET, the actual MSW can be simu­
lated. The corresponding relationship between elementary substance
and MSW was established, and the former was used to characterize
MSW. When it is used in the experiment, it can achieve the same heat
conversion effect, and has the advantages of convenient operation and
stable experimental conditions.
China’s primary MSW mainly includes five categories combustible
components of food waste, wood and bamboo, paper, textile and rubber
and plastic [30,16,4]. The physical and chemical characteristics of 31
kinds of MSW that can better represent the level of waste composition in
China were selected from the literature
[30,16,4,15,20,26,36,19,7–8,29,5]. The composition data of 31 groups
of MSW are shown in Table s1. A total of nine elementary substance of
cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, starch, PE, PVC, PP, PS and PET can be
selected as the base element substances for characterization. The five
types of waste and their respective corresponding elementary substance
were shown in Figure s1; the elemental and industrial analysis of the
nine primitive substances were shown in Table s2. Thermogravimetric
analysis was performed on elemental and solid waste samples to obtain
the weight loss curve and weight loss rate curve. As the elemental and
actual solid waste samples were tested under the same conditions, the
abscissa of the obtained weight loss curve was the same, so the weight
2
Fuel 352 (2023) 129027
loss curve of each substance can be simplified into the form of a weight
loss vector, and each component of the vector represents the remaining
mass percentage at a specific temperature. The characterization coeffi­
cient of actual combustible solid waste can be obtained through multi­
variate linear regression. Based on the thermal gravimetric analysis data
of 9 elements, the elemental characterization coefficients of the actual
combustible components were obtained through multivariate linear
regression, as shown in Table S3. Taking kitchen waste as an example, it
consists of 2.2% cellulose, 64.9% hemicellulose, 23.4% lignin, and 9.5%
starch.
2.1.2. Calculation methods of material flow model
The physical and chemical characteristics of 31 kinds of MSW that
can better represent the level of waste composition in China were
selected from the literature. According to the composition data, the
physical and chemical characteristics data of 31 kinds of waste were
formed by replacing the 9 elementary substance described in the
manuscript.
For assessing the effects of industrial waste co-incineration in MSW
incinerator, the LHV, volatilization and ash contents of fuel and the
concentrations of HCl and SO2 in flue gas from co-incineration were
predicted as shown in Eqs (1)-(13) in the supplementary materials.
2.1.3. Model calculation and analysis methods
The data were analyzed computationally using Excel and Matlab
software, and descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were per­
formed using SPSS software.
2.2. Experimental method
2.2.1. Tube furnace experimental platform
The laboratory-scale small tube furnace was selected as the experi­
mental setup for this experiment of co-incineration, as shown in Fig. 1
below.
The system consists of a temperature-controlled tube furnace, a
sample-carrying quartz boat, and a gas wash bottle. For each experi­
ment, 1.0 g of waste was placed in a quartz boat (length: 120 mm; width:
50 mm; height: 25 mm) in a horizontal tube furnace with a layer of
quartz sand at the bottom. Air was selected as the carrier gas and the
refuse was burned in the furnace for 15 min and then continued to be
aerated for another 15 min to ensure that all gaseous pollutants were
absorbed by the absorbent solution.
2.2.2. Design of experimental conditions
The three main factors that may affect the synergistic thermal con­
version, temperature, Ca/S and doping type, were selected to design
orthogonal tables for the experiments. The flue gas conventional
pollutant working conditions are shown in Table s4 below. The experi­
mental conditions concerning the distribution characteristics of the
three-phase heavy metal emissions are shown in the following Table s5.
2.2.3. Analysis methods of flue gas pollutants and heavy metals
An alkaline solution to absorb HF, HCl, SO2 and NOX in flue gas was
prepared with KOH and NaCO3 and connected to the end outlet of the
tube furnace. The configuration method of acid gas absorption liquid
refers to method 26-Determination Of Hydrogen Halide And Halogen
Emissions From Tationary Sources Non-isokinetic Method.
The experiment was carried out in the tube furnace. After the tem­
perature is heated to a set value, the material was fed into the center of
the tube furnace for 15 min of combustion time and then continued to be
aerated for 5 min. The flue gas was absorbed during the experiment
using the absorption method. The alkaline solution was fixed and tested
off-line to analyze the acidic pollutant content. Repeat the experiment
online using flue gas analyzer for some working conditions. Heavy metal
absorption solution was configured using HNO3 and hydrogen peroxide
to collect heavy metals in the gas phase, and particulate matter was
P.-T. Cai et al.
Fig. 1. Tubular furnace and flue gas absorption system.
collected using an adsorption bin with quartz cotton. After each exper­
iment, ash samples were collected. The absorption solution was filtered
and the gas-phase heavy metals were detected using inductively coupled
plasma (ICP). The quartz wool was microwave digested and the volume
was fixed for heavy metal detection using ICP. The ash was acid digested
and the volume was fixed for heavy metal detection using ICP. In this
paper, the ICP spectrometer (iCAP-6300) from Thermo Fisher of the
United States is used.
X-ray diffractometer (XRD) was used to determine the crystal
composition of substances. In this paper, the X-ray diffractometer of
Nihon Nihon Co., Ltd., model D/max-3B.
2.3. Quality control and quality assurance
The research content of this paper involves the detection of various
pollutants. In the course of the experiment, it was easy to be affected by
other factors to cause errors in the results. Therefore, the following
measures were taken during the experiment to reduce the systematic
error, improve the accuracy of the data obtained, and ensure the reli­
ability of the test results and conclusions.
(1) Before the experiment, prepare the necessary instruments and
reagents in advance, and protect them during sample trans­
portation and storage to avoid unnecessary pollution.
(2) During the mixing burning experiment of tubular furnace, the
tubular furnace shall be operated according to the specification.
Ensure that more than 2 experimenters are present during the
whole process to ensure that the experiment is carried out safely
and smoothly. In the experiment, all working conditions are
Fig. 2. Low calorific value, volatile and ash content of 31 groups of mixed fuel.
3
Fuel 352 (2023) 129027
carried out continuously to reduce the influence of changes in
incineration conditions in the furnace on the results.
(3) After the experiment, the sample test and analysis shall be carried
out in strict accordance with the relevant national testing
methods and standards. When measuring anions and heavy
metals, a new standard curve was configured for calibration to
reduce system error.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effects on conventional pollutant emissions
3.1.1. Material flow model simulation results
The simulated calorific values of different MSW mixed with indus­
trial wastes are shown in Fig. 2. The lower calorific value data of 31
groups of different components of MSW are concentrated in 1.42 ~
1.47*104 kJ/kg, the median value is 1.45*104 kJ/kg, and the average
value is 1.44 *104 kJ/kg. This data can also better represent the calorific
value of garbage in China. After burning 12% paper, textile, rubber and
plastic respectively, the average calorific value is 1.54*104 kJ/kg,
1.43*104 kJ/kg, 1.59*104 kJ/kg respectively. The results showed that
the calorific value of the three types of industrial waste from high to low
were plastics, textiles and paper. The average calorific value of three
types of industrial waste (4% for each) uniformly mixed and burned is
1.52*104 kJ/kg, which is not much higher than that of MSW. According
to the volatile distribution data, the calorific value distribution law is
consistent with the volatile, and the correlation coefficient r is greater
than 0.99. The ash content of MSW is 4.00%~4.18%, with a median
value of 4.10% and an average value of 4.12%. After burning 12% paper,
P.-T. Cai et al. Fuel 352 (2023) 129027

textile and rubber respectively, the average ash content is 4.16%, 5.24% temperature conditions, or the decomposition of N2 and O2, resulting in
and 4.87% respectively. The results show that the ash content of textiles a significant decrease in concentration [38,23].
is similar to that of MSW, while that of plastics and paper is much higher. The components of industrial textile and paper wastes are similar to
Therefore, co incinerating plastic and paper will result in an increase in those of MSW, but the calorific value of industrial solid wastes is
ash content, which will carry some heavy metals. This will bring a series generally higher, and reasonable burning is conducive to combustion.
of effects in the application of blended combustion, and will increase the
wear of burners, nozzles and pipes. In addition, the increase of metal 3.1.3. Comparative analysis
content is easy to cause slagging and corrosion on the heating surface. The comparison between the simulated results of HCl and SO2
emissions and the measured results are shown in Fig. 3. From the results
3.1.2. Results of the experiment in the figure, the simulation results are consistent with the overall trend
The concentrations of HCl, SO2, NO and NO2 in the flue gas measured of the actual results. For HCl, the actual emission concentration is
in the experiment are shown in Table 1. generally lower than the simulation result, and the emission concen­
To facilitate statistical analysis, fill 2 blank columns in Table 1 to tration at each point is about 5 mg/Nm3 lower. The reason may be that
form a five factor four level orthogonal Table s6. The HCl concentration some organochlorine is not completely decomposed in the actual
in the experimental results was orthogonal analyzed, and the results incineration process, and the chlorine entering the gas phase or fly ash is
were shown in Table s7 below. The mean square of material and Ca/S is reduced. Or the flue gas adsorption system does not fully absorb HCl in
less than the blank column, that is, changing the type of industrial the flue gas. For SO2, the overall trend is consistent with the simulation
organic solid waste and Ca/S will not have a significant impact on the results. However, when three types of industrial wastes are mixed and
concentration of HCl generation; P value of temperature obtained after incinerated together, the actual SO2 concentration is much higher than
correction = 2.85 × 10-5 < 0.05, so there is a significant relationship the simulation results. The results show that when the three components
between temperature and HCl emission concentration. As a result, the are mixed, the complex components affect the combustion characteris­
emission HCl concentration increases when the temperature rises. tics, and the interaction will affect the emission of SO2 [21].
The emission concentration of HCl increases with the increase of
temperature. According to the analysis of conditions 1 and 10 with the 3.2. Distribution characteristics of heavy metals
same temperature and Ca/S, as the chlorine content in industrial waste
is higher than that in general waste, the HCl emission concentration 3.2.1. Distribution of heavy metals in gas and particulate
increases from 3.77 mg to 5.68 mg. Therefore, it is inevitable that HCl The distribution of heavy metals in the gas phase and particles is
emissions will increase when burning industrial wastes containing shown in Fig. 4.
plastics and other wastes. It is necessary to reasonably arrange the The volatile heavy metal Se is easy to be enriched on the fly ash
proportion of co-incineration to avoid exceeding the emission standard. particles, so it is only detected in the particles. Semi volatile heavy
Through orthogonal analysis of SO2 concentration results in metals Be and Cd are not easy to volatilize, only a small amount of them
Table s8, there is a significant relationship between temperature and volatilize to the gas phase, and are not detected in particulate matter. In
SO2 emission concentration (P = 0.00026 < 0.05). The higher emission addition, <1% of As, Cr, Mn and Ni are volatilized to the gas phase,
concentration of SO2 basically occurs when the combustion temperature mainly concentrated on particles. The amount of Ba, Cu, Pb, Zn vola­
reaches 900 ◦ C, which is consistent with the literature that the emission tilized to the gas phase is 1–10%, and most of them are still concentrated
concentration of SO2 will increase faster after 850 ◦ C. on the particles. Heavy metal Hg has a low boiling point and is easy to
The orthogonal analysis of NO2 concentration in Table s9 shows that volatilize. A large amount of heavy metal Hg volatilizes to the gas phase
there is a significant relationship between temperature and NO2 emis­ and is collected by the absorption solvents. The volatile characteristics
sion concentration (P = 0.0095 < 0.05). As the temperature gradually of heavy metal elements can be studied by adding the heavy metal
rises to 850 ◦ C, NO2 emission concentration gradually increases. When contents in the gas phase and particulate matter. The results of heavy
the temperature rises to 900 ◦ C, the NO2 emission concentration will metal content in gas phase and particulate matter after addition are
decrease significantly, and the NO emission concentration at the cor­ shown in Table 2.
responding temperature will increase significantly. This may be due to The data of heavy metals in gas phase and particulate matter in
the reaction of NO2 with other substances in the furnace under high Table 2 are analyzed by range analysis with Ca/S, material type and
temperature as factors, and the results are shown in the Figure s2. Ac­
cording to the results of range analysis, for As, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, Zn,
Table 1
the content of heavy metals in the material itself is the most important
Emission concentration of flue gas pollutants from the experiment.
factor affecting its volatilization characteristics. According to the results
Fuel Ca/ Temperature HCl SO2 NO NO2 in Table 2, the content of heavy metals in plastics, textiles and paper is
S (◦ C) (mg/ (mg/ (mg/ (mg/
Nm3) Nm3) Nm3) Nm3)
significantly different. The content of As, Cu, Mn and Zn in plastics and
textiles is relatively high, and the content of heavy metals detected from
C1 Imitate 0 850 7.54 7.82 20.99 2.78
particulates is also relatively high. For Be, Ba and Hg, temperature is the
MSW
C2 A 0 750 4.84 7.08 19.11 1.91 most important factor affecting their volatilization characteristics. Hg is
C3 A 1 800 7.4 11.01 34.36 2.02 a volatile heavy metal, and the higher the temperature, the more vola­
C4 A 2 850 10.5 15.455 35.41 5.28 tile. However, Be and Ba belong to semi volatile heavy metals, which
C5 A 3 900 12.62 8.39 39.86 0.73 only volatilize a little under high temperature incineration conditions.
C6 B 0 800 6.62 7.85 35.36 2.56
C7 B 1 750 5.8 7.98 32.28 2.24
And according to the data in Table 2 above, Ba and Be are only detected
C8 B 2 900 10.06 14.11 40.50 4.33 in a small amount in the gas phase, which also indicates this statement.
C9 B 3 850 11.46 8.755 33.78 5.53 The data of heavy metals in gas phase and particulate matter in
C10 C 0 850 11.36 7.805 34.15 6.88 Table 2 were analyzed by multifactor ANOVA(analysis of variance) with
C11 C 1 900 10.58 11.06 40.25 0.78
Ca/S, material type and temperature as fixed factors. The results are
C12 C 2 750 5.04 7.035 32.75 0.57
C13 C 3 800 3.82 7.45 40.50 1.31 shown in Attached Table s11. According to the results of ANOVA, Zn has
C14 D 0 900 9.94 12.58 25.50 0.25 a strong significance on Ca/S. With the increase of Ca/S ratio, the con­
C15 D 1 850 9.52 7.495 34.14 3.65 tent of Zn in the gas phase and particles decreased significantly. The
C16 D 2 800 3.96 5.875 33.50 3.04 reason may be that there is less ash in the fuel, and Zn is easy to generate
C17 D 3 750 6 7.895 43.25 3.91
sulfate to form fine particles, while the increase of Ca/S has the effect of

4
P.-T. Cai et al. Fuel 352 (2023) 129027

Fig. 3. Comparison between simulation results and measurement results of HCl, SO2 emissions.

Fig. 4. The distribution of heavy metals in the gas phase and particles.
desulfurization, reducing the content of Zn in particles in this way. Be
shows strong significance on temperature. Be is a semi volatile heavy
metal, with a low amount volatilized to the gas phase. With the increase
of temperature, the maximum temperature increases, which makes the
Be content in the gas phase and particles increase.
3.2.2. Distribution of heavy metals in ash
According to the distribution of heavy metals in the ash, Ba, Mn, Ni
and other non-volatile heavy metals are largely present in the ash (＜
0.0001 mg/L digestion solution). Hg is highly volatile and is not
detected in ash. Be and Cd are nonvolatile heavy metals, and their
content in materials is low. They are not detected in ash, but only a small
amount in gas phase and particulate matter.
The data of heavy metals in ash residue in Table 3 were analyzed by
using Ca/S, material type and temperature as factors, and the results are
shown in the Figure s3.
According to the results of range analysis, Be, Cd and Hg were not
detected. For As, Ba, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, Zn, the content of heavy
metals in the material itself is the most important factor affecting its
volatilization characteristics. In addition, Ca/S has a great influence on
As, Ba, Cu, Mn, Ni, Zn in ash, while temperature has a great influence on
Cr, Pb, Se. The best level of range analysis for Ba, Mn, Ni, Zn occurs when
Ca/S is 1, indicating that the increase of Ca/S ratio reduces the storage
rate of these elements in the ash. The reason may be the increase of Ca/S,
which reduces the part left in the ash due to the formation of sulfate. The
best level of range analysis of Cr, Pb and Se occurs when the temperature
is 800 ◦ C, indicating that the increase of temperature increases the
volatilization rate of these elements.
The data of heavy metals in ash and slag in Table 3 were analyzed by
multifactor ANOVA with Ca/S, material type and temperature as fixed
factors. The results are shown in Attached Table s12. According to the
results of variance analysis, the significance p value of Se is 0.038,
showing a strong significance for temperature. With the increase of
temperature, the content of Se in the ash gradually decreased, and the
volatility gradually increased, showing a good linear relationship. The
significant p values of As, Zn, Pb and Cr are 0.000, 0.001, 0.020 and
0.031 respectively, showing strong selectivity to materials. With the
increase of As, Zn, Pb, Cr content in the material, the proportion of
retained ash and slag also increases, and presents a good linear
relationship.
3.2.3. Migration behavior of heavy metals
The three-phase distribution of heavy metals under different condi­
tions is shown in Fig. 5. For As, the content of heavy metals in the gas
phase is low, and almost all of the volatilized As are collected on the
particles. As itself is a volatile heavy metal, with a boiling point of
613 ◦ C, the temperature has little effect on its volatility. There is an

Table 2
Heavy metal content in flue gas and particulate, mg/kg.
As Ba Be Cd Cr Cu Hg Mn Ni Pb Se

H1 794.13 2.81 5.84 0.04 1798.54 1626.20 20.26 2070.52 567.09 401.13 778.54
H2 1842.82 0.78 4.36 0.02 3082.58 3371.78 13.28 4769.05 750.85 1221.75 1337.26
H3 986.05 2.77 2.47 0.03 1270.36 1399.86 65.28 1257.99 252.04 293.05 477.21
H4 1099.11 1.41 2.14 0.04 1641.36 1607.84 7.09 1553.81 426.56 197.05 712.93
H5 452.87 2.53 1.10 0.03 441.84 648.52 0.15 698.51 142.75 461.63 255.27
H6 3033.02 3.66 1.08 0.04 5198.21 2986.24 0.13 7558.36 1387.43 1258.84 2562.00
H7 1828.27 1.73 2.19 0.03 3373.61 2667.47 0.11 3697.12 939.25 365.52 1481.05
H8 776.00 2.91 0.96 0.04 1705.14 1276.45 0.11 2240.74 670.14 313.73 612.39
H9 509.98 0.98 0.44 0.04 914.85 504.07 0.09 1034.67 235.45 141.64 464.50

5
P.-T. Cai et al. Fuel 352 (2023) 129027

Table 3
Heavy metal content in ash, mg/kg.
As Ba Be Cd Cr Cu Hg Mn Ni Pb Se

H1 175.35 531.79 0.00 0.00 170.30 207.84 0.00 386.37 24.87 6.62 0.00
H2 198.36 624.52 0.00 0.00 287.84 845.08 0.00 496.62 66.70 3.86 0.00
H3 195.05 1777.62 0.00 0.00 306.81 266.76 0.00 385.62 85.48 57.24 0.00
H4 189.35 2003.36 0.00 0.00 455.90 293.67 0.00 445.25 138.68 17.99 11.04
H5 178.72 357.16 0.00 0.00 108.99 139.86 0.00 274.40 3.94 1.83 6.97
H6 176.87 583.19 0.00 0.00 281.67 318.37 0.00 499.56 102.62 8.45 13.17
H7 184.93 918.94 0.00 0.00 538.25 428.64 0.00 748.18 87.52 45.95 19.76
H8 192.88 1170.17 0.00 0.00 768.16 574.09 0.00 444.31 58.17 51.86 18.98
H9 167.72 290.04 0.00 0.00 93.21 123.41 0.00 228.57 3.70 0.00 6.35

Fig. 5. Three phase distribution of heavy metals.

obvious linear relationship between the residual rate of As in the ash and
the content of As in the material itself. The content of heavy metal As in
plastics is the largest, and the proportion of heavy metals in ash under
corresponding working conditions 3, 4 and 8 is relatively high, which is
18.92–23.07%. The influence of Ca/s on the migration of As has no
obvious rule.
For Ba, most of it remains in the ash, and a small amount of Ba
volatilized is 0.68–12.45%, almost all of which are collected in the form
of gas phase. As Ba itself is a semi volatile heavy metal, with a high
boiling point, it is difficult to volatilize, and the gas phase volatilization
rate will slightly increase with the increase of temperature. According to
the range analysis results of Ba, the increase of Ca/S ratio can reduce the
retention rate of ash. The Ba content of the material itself has a good
linear relationship with its residual rate in the ash. The content of Ba in
plastics is the highest, and the ash residue storage rate under corre­
sponding working conditions is 98.51–99.32%.
For Cr and Mn, the content of heavy metals in the gas phase is low,
and almost all the volatilized Cr is concentrated on the particles and
collected. Materials have the greatest influence on the migration of Cr
and Mn. The higher the content of Cr and Mn in the material itself, the
higher its storage rate in the ash. Temperature also has a great influence
on the migration of Cr and Mn, and the higher the temperature is, the
higher the volatilization rate will be. However, the influence of Ca/s on
Cr migration has no obvious rule.
For Cu, the proportion of Cu that can be collected in the gas phase is
about 1.48–3.18%, and its gas phase collection proportion has little
change, which is less affected by temperature, material and Ca/S. The
content of Cu in plastics is much higher than that in paper and textiles.
Under the working conditions 3, 4 and 8 of burning plastics, the storage
rate of Cu in ash is the highest, while the difference between paper and
textiles is not significant. At 800 ◦ C, the volatilization rate of Cu in the
ash is significantly reduced, while at 850–900 ◦ C, the difference is not
significant.
For Ni, the content of Ni in the material itself determines its residue
rate in the ash. The content of Ni in the paper itself is the lowest, 44.54
mg/kg, and the Ni residue rate in the corresponding working conditions
1, 5, and 9 is 1.52–5.24%. However, the content of Ni in plastics is
relatively high, and the residue rate of Ni in ash under corresponding
working conditions 3 and 4 is 33.72% and 30.32%. From the results of
range analysis, Ca/S can play a certain role in promoting the trans­
formation of image gas phase. Temperature has no obvious effect on Ni.
For Pb and Zn, the material is the most important factor affecting
their volatilization characteristics. However, the Pb content of the three
materials is similar, and the plastic, textile and paper are 26.07 mg/kg,
27.12 mg/kg and 33.83 mg/kg respectively. The chlorine ion in the
material plays an important role in the volatilization of Pb and Zn. The

6
P.-T. Cai et al.
chlorine content of plastics is 4.43%, and that of textiles is 3.09%. The
research shows that chlorine will react with heavy metals, forming small
particles and low boiling point chlorides under certain conditions, and
improving its volatilization rate. For Zn, with the increase of Ca/S ratio,
the content of Zn in the gas phase and particles decreased significantly.
The reason may be that there is less ash in the fuel, and Zn is easy to
generate sulfate to form fine particles, while the increase of Ca/S has the
effect of desulfurization, reducing the content of Zn in particles in this
way.
3.3. Ash composition
The ash and slag after incineration of industrial waste are collected
for XRD detection, and the results are shown in Figure s4. In actual
incineration, most of the ash will be collected in the form of fly ash, so it
can be compared with the fly ash from MSW incineration. At 800 ◦ C,
850 ◦ C and 900 ◦ C, the ash was mainly composed of Ca (OH)2, CaCO3,
SiO2 and Al2O3, which was similar to the composition of MSWI fly ash
[24,34].
From the influence of temperature, there was a strong signal of
CaCO3 peak spectrum at 800 ◦ C, and it gradually weakens with the in­
crease of temperature. This represents the high temperature decompo­
sition of CaCO3 in ash. From the category of industrial waste, the dust of
textile and paper was mainly composed of Ca oxides. In particular, there
was an obvious signal of chloride Ca4Al2O6Cl2 at 800 ◦ C for plastics,
which may be the intermediate product generated by the reaction of
CaO/Ca (OH)2 and HCl. The results also illustrate the migration of some
chlorine into the solid phase in the previous inference [39]. Industrial
plastic waste has a high chlorine content. At high temperatures, chloride
will decompose into chloride ions and combine with metal ions to form
soluble salts, which will evaporate into the flue gas. When the temper­
ature is not high (about 800 ◦ C), the chloride complex cannot be fully
decomposed, and chlorine combines with other substances to form
insoluble salts, which migrate to the solid phase. Due to the high
mobility of chlorides in soil, they can easily be carried into groundwater,
causing certain pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the
resource utilization of ash residue. From the product point of view, the
composition of MSW fly ash from industrial wastes mixed with plastics,
paper and textiles was not large. SiO2, CaCO3 and other minerals in fly
ash were conducive to the subsequent fly ash resources and utilization.
For example, stable silicate glasses can be formed with Al2O3, CaO, and
other materials, which can improve the strength and durability of the
ceramic particles and reduce the leaching toxicity of heavy metals from
the particles. In addition, hydration reactions can occur between
ceramic particles and CaO in cement, producing hydrates such as cal­
cium silicate hydrate and calcium aluminate hydrate, which can
enhance the cement’s binding performance and compressive strength.
4. Conclusions
In this study, the influence of co-incineration of industrial waste on
the pollutant emission of waste incineration plant was discussed by
means of simulation calculation and pilot scale test. A material flow
model was used to evaluate the impact of co-incineration of industrial
waste on fuel properties and acid gas emissions. The effects of temper­
ature, blending ratio and Ca/S were analyzed. The results show that: (i)
The calorific value of municipal solid waste is significantly increased by
burning industrial waste, which is beneficial to incineration. However,
co-incineration of plastic and paper industrial wastes will increase ash
content, which is not conducive to pipelines or tail gas treatment
equipment; (ii) In the process of co incineration of industrial waste, the
influence of temperature on SO2 and NO2 emissions is greater than that
of fuel itself. The co-incineration of plastic industrial wastes increases
HCl significantly, and the conversion of Cl to HCl becomes more com­
plete with the increase of temperature.
The distribution of heavy metals in the incineration process of three
7
Fuel 352 (2023) 129027
types of industrial waste shows that: (i) The content of heavy metals in
the three types of industrial waste varies greatly, and the heavy metals
transferred to the gas phase depend on the content of the fuel itself. The
distribution of Be in the gas phase and particles has a strong positive
correlation with temperature, while Zn has a strong negative correlation
with Ca/S ratio. (ii) Increasing temperature can increase the volatili­
zation rate of Cr, Pb and Se. When Ca/S is 1, Ba, Mn, Ni, Zn can effec­
tively reduce the retention rate of elements in the ash. (iii) Most of Ba is
retained in the ash, and the small part volatilized is almost all collected
in the form of gas phase. The increase of Ca/S ratio can reduce the
retention rate of Ba in the ash. Under certain conditions, the chlorine in
the material will react with Zn to form small particles and low boiling
point zinc chloride, which will increase its volatility. The mineral
composition of the ash indicates that co incineration of industrial waste
will not affect the composition of fly ash, and it can be used as a resource
in the future. These findings provide a better understanding of the
impact of mixed burning of industrial waste on municipal solid waste
incineration plants. Furthermore, it can guide the transformation of
municipal solid waste incineration plants to blend and burn industrial
waste in the future.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
This work is financially supported by the National Key Research and
Development Program of China (2020YFC1910101) and Innovation
Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No.51621005).
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.fuel.2023.129027.
References
[1] Cai J, Pan A, Li Y, Xiao Y, Zhou Y, Chen C, et al. A novel strategy for enhancing
anaerobic biodegradation of an anthraquinone dye reactive blue 19 with
resuscitation-promoting factors. Chemosphere 2021;263:127922.
[2] Chen A, Yang MQ, Wang S, et al. Recent advancements in photocatalytic
valorization of plastic waste to chemicals and fuels. Front Nanotechnol 2021;3:
723120.
[3] Chandra R, Sharma P, Yadav S, et al. Biodegradation of endocrine-disrupting
chemicals and residual organic pollutants of pulp and paper mill effluent by
biostimulation. Front Microbiol 2018;9:960.
[4] Cheng W. Comparation of physical compositions of household waste in urban and
rural areas of Beijing. Recyclable Resour Circ Econ 2020;13:17–22 (in Chinese).
[5] Dong XD, Zhang YL. Investigation and analysis of physicochemical characteristics
of municipal solid waste in Shanghai. Environ Sanit Eng 2016;24:18–21 (in
Chinese).
[6] Deng H, Tian C, Li Li, Liang Y, Yan S, Hu M, et al. Microinteraction Analysis
between Heavy Metals and Coexisting Phases in Heavy Metal Containing Solid
Wastes. ACS ES&T Engineering 2022;2(4):547–63.
[7] Environmental Hygiene Administration Office of Shenzhen. Basic statistics and
analysis of Shenzhen municipal solid waste in 2010. Shenzhen: Environmental
Hygiene Administration Office of Shenzhen; 2010 (in Chinese).
[8] Environmental Hygiene Administration Office of Shenzhen. Basic statistics and
analysis of Shenzhen municipal solid waste in 2014. Shenzhen: Environmental
Hygiene Administration Office of Shenzhen; 2014 (in Chinese).
[9] Furubayashi T, Nakata T. Analysis of woody biomass utilization for heat,
electricity, and CHP in a regional city of Japan. J Clean Prod 2021;290:125665.
P.-T. Cai et al.
[10] Gupta GK, Shukla P. Insights into the resources generation from pulp and paper
industry wastes: challenges, perspectives and innovations. Bioresour Technol 2020;
297:122496.
[11] Haq I, Raj A. Pulp and paper mill wastewater: ecotoxicological effects and
bioremediation approaches for environmental safety [M]//Bioremediation of
industrial waste for environmental safety. Singapore: Springer; 2020. p. 333–56.
[12] Khan HM, Iqbal T, Yasin S, Irfan M, Kazmi M, Fayaz H, et al. Production and
utilization aspects of waste cooking oil based biodiesel in Pakistan. Alex Eng J
2021;60(6):5831–49.
[13] Kasavan S, Yusoff S, Guan NC, Zaman NSK, Fakri MFR. Global trends of textile
waste research from 2005 to 2020 using bibliometric analysis. Environ Sci Pollut
Res 2021;28(33):44780–94.
[14] Kiani R, Mirzaei F, Ghanbari F, Feizi R, Mehdipour F. Real textile wastewater
treatment by a sulfate radicals-Advanced Oxidation Process: Peroxydisulfate
decomposition using copper oxide (CuO) supported onto activated carbon. J Water
Process Eng 2020;38:101623.
[15] Li A, Li D, Xu X. A discussion on pretreatment to improve MSW incineration. Chin J
Environ Eng 2008;2(6):830–4 (in Chinese).
[16] Li CY. Beijing urban areas MSW physical and chemical properties investigation
[D]. Dissertation. Beijing Univ Technol 2014 (in Chinese).
[17] Long YQ, Li QH, Zhou H, et al. Pseudo-component method for characterization of
the thermochemical conversion of combustible solid waste. J Tsinghua Univ 2017;
57(12):1324–30.
[18] Łach M, Mikuła J, Hebda M. Thermal analysis of the by-products of waste
combustion. J Therm Anal Calorim 2016;125(3):1035–45.
[19] Li L. Sustainable development research on the urban and rural domestic refuse
disposal in Wuhan. Ecol Environ 2010:156–8 (in Chinese).
[20] Ma ZZ. Domestic waste investigation and disposal method in Shenyang. Environ
Sanitat Eng 2010;18(2):13–4.
[21] Majanny A, Nassour A, Gose S, Scholz R, Nelles M. Characterization and thermal
behaviour of textile waste from the industrial city of Aleppo in Syria. Waste Manag
Res 2011;29(3):277–83.
[22] MacArthur E. Beyond plastic waste. Science 2017;358(6365):843.
[23] Ma C, Li B, Chen D, et al. An investigation of an oxygen-enriched combustion of
municipal solid waste on flue gas emission and combustion performance at a 8
MWth waste-to-energy plant. Waste Manag 2019;96:47–56.
[24] Marieta C, Guerrero A, Leon I. Municipal solid waste incineration fly ash to
produce eco-friendly binders for sustainable building construction. Waste Manag
2021;120:114–24.
[25] Mia MS, Yao P, Zhu X, Zhang J, Xing T, Chen G. Removal of heavy metals from
aqueous solutions by modified waste silk. Text Res J 2022;92(11-12):1952–65.
Fuel 352 (2023) 129027
[26] Peng W, He J, Yao Q, et al. Physical compositions and influence factors of
municipal domestic Waste in Tianjin. Environ Sanitat Eng 2014;22(3):12–4 (in
Chinese).
[27] Shirvanimoghaddam K, Motamed B, Ramakrishna S, Naebe M. Death by waste:
Fashion and textile circular economy case. Sci Total Environ 2020;718:137317.
[28] Senthil Kumar P, Abhinaya RV, Gayathri Lashmi K, Arthi V, Pavithra R,
Sathyaselvabala V, et al. Adsorption of methylene blue dye from aqueous solution
by agricultural waste: Equilibrium, thermodynamics, kinetics, mechanism and
process design. Colloid J 2011;73(5):651–61.
[29] Shanghai Municipal Waste Management Office. Annual report on the investigation
of physical and chemical characteristics of municipal solid waste. Ltd, Shanghai:
Shanghai Environmental Engineering Design Research Institute Co.; 2018 (in
Chinese).
[30] Tai J, Zhang W, Che Y, Feng Di. Municipal solid waste source-separated collection
in China: A comparative analysis. Waste Manag 2011;31(8):1673–82.
[31] Vershinina K, Nyashina G, Strizhak P. Combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification of
waste-derived fuel slurries, low-grade liquids, and high-moisture waste. Appl Sci
2022;12(3):1039.
[32] Wojdyga K, Chorzelski M, Rozycka-Wronska E. Emission of pollutants in flue gases
from Polish district heating sources. J Clean Prod 2014;75:157–65.
[33] Wang Y, Jia Li, Guo J, Wang B, Zhang L, Xiang J, et al. Thermogravimetric analysis
of co-combustion between municipal sewage sludge and coal slime: Combustion
characteristics, interaction and kinetics. Thermochim Acta 2021;706:179056.
[34] Wolffers M, Eggenberger U, Schlumberger S, Churakov SV. Characterization of
MSWI fly ashes along the flue gas cooling path and implications on heavy metal
recovery through acid leaching. Waste Manag 2021;134:231–40.
[35] Yang S, Lei M, Li M, Liu C, Xue B, Xiao R. Comprehensive estimation of combustion
behavior and thermochemical structure evolution of four typical industrial
polymeric wastes. Energies 2022;15(7):2487.
[36] Zhao Y, Xing W, Lu W, Zhang Xu, Christensen TH. Environmental impact
assessment of the incineration of municipal solid waste with auxiliary coal in
China. Waste Manag 2012;32(10):1989–98.
[37] Zhao R, Dai R, Chen T, Qin J, Zhang J, Wu J. Investigation on combustion, gaseous
pollutants emission and ash characteristics during co-combustion of semicoke and
coal slime. J Environ Chem Eng 2021;9(5):106249.
[38] Zhang S, Lin X, Chen Z, Li X, Jiang X, Yan J. Influence on gaseous pollutants
emissions and fly ash characteristics from co-combustion of municipal solid waste
and coal by a drop tube furnace. Waste Manag 2018;81:33–40.
[39] Zhang JJ, Liu B, et al. Current state of the harmless melting and recycling of
municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash. Chin J Eng 2022;44(11):1909–16.