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- 2016 (14) (entfernen)
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- Phosphorus recovery (6)
- Sewage sludge ash (5)
- Thermochemical treatment (3)
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- RCA (Recycled concrete aggregates) (2)
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Eingeladener Vortrag
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Sewage sludge ashes (SSA) contain up to 13% P and are thus promising raw materials for fertilizer production. However, SSAs also contain heavy metals and the main P-bearing mineral phases whitlockite and aluminium phosphate are poorly bioavailable. We developed and patented a process that produces fertilizers from SSA addressing the above mentioned challenges. SSA is thermo-chemically treated at ~950°C under reducing conditions (reductive: dry sewage sludge) in a rotary kiln together with an alkali compound such as sodium or potassium sulfate, hydroxide or carbonate. Some undesired trace elements such as As, Hg, Pb and Cd are evaporated and separated via off gas treatment system. The poorly soluble phosphates are transformed into calcium alkali phosphates (CaNaPO4 or CaKPO4) that are not water soluble but completely soluble in neutral ammonium citrate solution (NAC). Pot experiments showed that the fertilizer performance of the treated SSA containing calcium alkali phosphates as the single P-bearing mineral phase was comparable to the performance of triple superphosphate. The PNAC-solubility of fertilizer products correlated very well with the resulting contents of calcium alkali phosphates and the P-uptake of plants in pot experiments. The effect of the ratio alkali/P on the PNAC-solubility was investigated by crucible experiments and trial series with a medium scale rotary kiln using different SSAs and alkali phosphates. The effects of operational parameters such as the temperature and the retention time were investigated as well as concurring side reactions of the alkali compounds e.g. with SiO2 present in SSA. The alkali/P ratio must be roughly adjusted at 2 to achieve 100% PNAC-solubility for a common type of SSA. A demonstration trial with an output of 2 t recycling fertilizer was carried out in an industrial rotary kiln (product output 30 kg/h). The PNAC-solubility of the product varied between 60% and 80% during the 4 days campaign showing that the transformation of the mineral P-phases to calcium alkali phosphates was not complete. This was observed although the amount of Na2SO4 additive was dosed according to the results of the pre-investigations. Structure analysis by XRD showed that besides the target compound CaNaSO4 also some Ca3(PO4)2 remained in the SSA as well as some unreacted Na2SO4 additive. Obviously, the conditions in the industrial rotary kiln were not optimal for the process showing that some process aspects have to be reconsidered for the scale-up.
Phosphorus-fertilizers from secondary resources such as sewage sludge ash (SSA) will become more important in the future as they could substitute conventional fertilizers based on the nonrenewable resource phosphate rock. Thermochemical approaches were developed which remove heavy metals from SSA prior to its fertilizer application on farmlands. We analyzed the chemical state of mercury and selenium in SSA before and after thermochemical treatment under different conditions for P-fertilizer production by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. In some incineration plants the mercury loaded carbon adsorber from off-gas cleaning was collected together with the SSA for waste disposal. SSAs from those plants contained mercury mainly bound to carbon/organic material. The other SSAs contained inorganic mercury compounds which are most probably stabilized in the SSA matrix and were thus not evaporated during incineration. During thermochemical treatment, carbon-bound mercury was removed quantitatively. In contrast, a certain immobile fraction of inorganic mercury compounds remained in thermochemically treated SSA, which were not clearly identified. HgSe might be one of the inorganic compounds, which is supported by results of Se K-edge XANES spectroscopy. Furthermore, the chemical state of selenium in the SSAs was very sensitive to the conditions of the thermochemical treatment.
The environmental concerns about availability of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas effect increase and alternative renewable fuels for power plants are gaining significantly of importance. One of the alternative renewable fuels is biomass but it is a difficult fuel because of its diversity and complexity. It can contain high percentages of K and Cl responsible for corrosion together with sand that have additionally an abrasive effect during combustion. Because of permanently extending the surface reaction due to abrasion the corrosion of the materials increases. In particular in power plants, the superheater tubes are exposed to a corrosive abrasive attack that is one of the main sources of concern. The development of new alloys for multilayer surface, which combines corrosive and abrasive resistance is therefore of high importance. Those new technical approaches must be at the same time cost-effective to be an alternative to conventional materials. This paper presents the principle of experimental methods developed for the investigations of high temperature corrosion combined with abrasion in thermochemical processes with high hydrochloric acid concentrations like during biomass combustion. The aim of the presented investigation methods it to test and develop suitable alloys for coatings for the super heater tubes of biomass power plants. First results of abrasion investigations show improved abrasion resistance compared to the multi-component reference material Alloy 625.
Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for all forms of life and is applied as fertilizer in agriculture. The P availability for plants may be highly dependent on the chemical state of P in fertilizers and soils; however, the nature of this dependence remains obscure due to the limitations of generally applied wet chemical and instrumental analytical approaches. This paper focuses on recently developed infrared, Raman, ultraviolet and X-ray microspectroscopic techniques for the characterization of P in soil. Microspectroscopic techniques have the advantage that discrete P phases can be distinguished and characterized even if their mass fractions are very low. However, only small volumes of soil can be analyzed by microspectroscopic methods hence a combination of macro- and microspectroscopic techniques is a promising concept.
Fluorescence lamps contain considerable amounts of rare earth elements (REE). Several recycling procedures for REE recovery from spent lamps have been established. However, despite their economic importance, the respective recycling is scarce so far, with an REE recovery rate of less than 1%. A reliable analysis of REE and other relevant metals like Yttrium is crucial for a thorough and complete recovery process. This applies both to the solid matter and aqueous phase, since most of the recycling processes include wet-chemical steps. We tested seven different reagent mixtures for microwave-assisted digestion of fluorescent lamp shredder, including hydrofluoric acid, perchloric acid, and hydrogen peroxide. We determined the concentrations of 25 of the most relevant rare earth and other trace elements (Al, P, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Ga, Ge, As, Y, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, La, Ce, Eu, Gd, Tb, W, Au, Hg, and Pb) in the respective dilutions. Two independent digestions, one a mixture of perchlorid/nitric/hydrofluoric acid and the other aqua regia, showed the highest concentrations of 23 of these elements, excluding only Sn and Tb. The REE concentrations in the tested lamp shredder sample (stated in g/kg) were 10.2 (Y), 12.1 (La), 7.77 (Ce), 6.91 (Eu), 1.90 (Gd), and 4.11 (Tb).
The annual demand of phosphorus (P) for fertilizer use is more than 550,000 t in Germany. Several of the input streams like mineral fertilizer produced from phosphate rock or sewage sludge are problematic due to contamination with heavy metals and organic pollutants and/or supply risks. Phosphorus recovery from the wastewater stream might help to diminish these problems. Several procedures have been developed to recover P from either sewage sludge ash (SSA) or wastewater via precipitation or crystallization as struvite. This study determined the elemental composition and trace metal mass fractions of 252 SSA samples and 17 struvite samples from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to see whether there are differences related to the source of the sludge (municipal/industrial) or the stage of the WWTP where the struvite is produced. Results indicated that there is no clear trend of the elemental mass fractions related to the source of the sludge. All struvite samples show very low heavy metal contents, even though the struvite precipitated from the sludge shows slightly elevated heavy metal mass fractions compared to struvite crystallized from sludge liquor. Struvite is a clean and plant available material for fertilizer production from wastewater streams and has some advantages for the wastewater treatment plant. However, since the P recovery rate of struvite processes is low (7–11%) compared to that from SSA processes (90%), recovery from SSA is necessary for a substantial P recovery from the wastewater stream.
Recovery of rare earth elements - optimized elemental analysis of fluorescent lamp shredder waste
(2016)
Rare earth elements (REE) are a crucial component of fluorescence lamps. Several procedures have been developed to recovery these technological important elements. Nevertheless, actual REE recycling from fluorescence lamps is scarce so far (recovery rate of less than 1 %), with current recycling approaches concentrating on glass recovery. Since most recycling processes include several, also wet-chemical steps, a complete knowledge of the actual elemental composition of the respective mass flows is necessary for an efficient REE recovery. We tested seven different reagent mixtures for microwave-assisted digestion of fluorescent lamp shredder, including HF, HClO4, and H2O2. We determined the concentrations of 25 of the most relevant rare earth and other trace elements in the respective dilutions. Two independent digestions, one a mixture of perchlorid/nitric/hydrofluoric acid and the other aqua regia, showed the highest concentrations of 23 of these elements, excluding only Sn and Tb. The REE concentrations in the tested lamp shredder sample (stated in g/kg) were 10.2 (Y), 12.1 (La), 7.77 (Ce), 6.91 (Eu), 1.90 (Gd), and 4.11 (Tb).
Sewage sludge incineration is extensively practiced in some European countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. A survey of German sewage sludge ash showed that the recovery potential is high, approx. 19,000 t of phosphorus per year. However, the survey also discovered that the bioavailability of phosphorus in the sewage sludge ash is poor and that more than half of the ashes cannot be used as fertilizers due to high heavy metal content. A new thermochemical process for sewage sludge ash treatment was developed that transforms the ash into marketable fertilizer products. Sewage sludge ash was thermochemically treated with sodium and potassium additives under reducing conditions, whereby the phosphate-bearing mineral phases were transformed into plant available phosphates. High P-bioavailability was achieved with a molar Na/P ratio > 1.75 in the starting materials. Sodium sulfate, carbonate and hydroxide performed comparably as additives for this calcination process. Potassium carbonate and -hydroxide have to be added in a molar K/P ratio > 2.5 to achieve comparable P-solubility. The findings of the laboratory scale investigations were confirmed by an industrial demonstration trial for an ash treatment with sodium sulfate. Simultaneously, the volatile transition metal arsenic (61% removal) as well as volatile heavy metals such as cadmium (80%), mercury (68%), lead (39%) and zinc (9%) were removed via the off-gas treatment system. The product of the demonstration trial is characterized by high bioavailability and a toxic trace element mass fraction below the limit values of the German fertilizer ordinance, thus fulfilling the quality parameters for a P-fertilizer.