Bioleaching of hazardous waste

Abstract

Landfill represents the least environmentally-friendly method of waste disposal because of possible pollution to the environment. Dangerous wastes pose the greatest problems and are often disposed of by combustion. This process reduces their volume but entails the formation of new types of dangerous waste. The present study focuses on the possibilities of the removal of the hazardous properties of waste originating from hazardous waste incinerators (three types of bottom ash and charcoal from flue gas cleaning) by bioleaching. Toxic pollutants originating from waste could be removed by bioleaching with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. The effectiveness of bioleaching was evaluated on the basis of the pollutant content in the aqueous leachates. For studying the relation between the efficiency of bioleaching and the binding of pollutants in the waste, Tessier’s sequential extraction was used. A comparison of bioleaching efficiency and the results of sequential extraction shows that bioleaching can be used to remove elements which are in an exchangeable form or are bound to carbonates, meaning that they are bound in bio-available forms. Bacterial activity was also shown to change the bonds of pollutants in wastes, leading to increased solubility of the pollutant.