Characteristics of PCDD/F content in fly ash discharged from municipal solid waste incinerators

► This paper presents PCDD/F content characterization in the fly ash discharged from sixteen large-scale commercial MSWI in Taiwan. ► The PCDD/F characteristic index (DCI) is suggested using the representative congener content of 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF to characterize the fly ash. ► The findings provided PCDD/F fingerprint information to distinguish from other PCDD/F sources, and thus be applied to fly ash management. Different from most previous studies with quantity-limited data, this paper presents PCDD/F content characterization in the fly ash discharged from sixteen large-scale commercial MSWIs. From the results with over hundreds of data using periodically sampling and analysis, it was found that the PCDD/F contents in the fly ash were from 9.07 to 46.68 ng/g, d.w., and if based on international toxicity equivalent quantity, they were from 0.78 to 2.86 ng I-TEQ/g, d.w. The higher chlorinated PCDDs likely dominated more than lower chlorinated PCDDs, but this tendency was not for PCDFs. The OCDD had the highest contribution to the total PCDD/F content, but if based on I-TEQ content, 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF is the PCDD/F congener with the highest toxicity contribution. Moreover, the PCDD/F characteristic index (DCI) is suggested using the representative congener content of 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF to characterize the fly ash. The DCI is 0.875 ± 7.6% for the fly ash discharged from the MSWI with the APCD assembly of SD, AC and BF. The findings obtained in this work provide overview information on the PCDD/F content characterization in fly ash. They will provide PCDD/F fingerprint information to distinguish from other PCDD/F sources, like steel refinery industry, hazardous waste incinerators, or cement kilns, and thus be applied to fly ash management in the environment.