Effects of sulfur on variations in the chemical speciation of heavy metals from fly ash glass

This work designed a new CaO-Al_(2)O_(3)-SiO_(2)-SO3 glass for the immobilization of multiple heavy metals found in dechlorinated fly ash having high amounts of calcium and sulfur. Increasing the (CaO + SO3)/SiO_(2) mass ratio (M(CS/S)) from 0.28 to 0.85 was found to lower the proportions of Mn, Ni and Zn in an unstable state, while an M(CS/S) ratio of 0.51 gave the lowest proportions of unstable Cr and Pb. Decreasing the degree of polymerization of the glassy network increased the proportions of Mn, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn in the carbonate bound state. The leaching out of metals in this state was the primary cause of degradation of Q^(3) structural units in the glassy network. The amount of Mn in the iron-manganese oxide bound state was increased by increasing the number of Q^(2) units in the silicate network. Decreasing the CaO/SiO_(2) mass ratio (M(C/S)) raised the proportions of Mn, Ni and Zn in the unstable state. An M(C/S) value of 0.43 lowered the proportions of unstable Cr and Pb. A principal components analysis determined that the leaching of toxic heavy metals from the glass was primarily related to the proportions of these metals in the unstable state while there were no evident correlations between leaching and the proportions in stable states.