Incineration disposal of organic waste bio-residue via a deep dewatering process using refuse incineration bottom ash: moisture transfer and low calorific value improvement

Bio-residue is a by-product from organic waste anaerobic digestion process with high moisture, high organic matter, low calorific value and poor biological stability, and may be incinerated after deep dewatering. The moisture existence forms of bio-residue were clarified firstly, finding that adsorbed water, capillary water and bound water occupied 75.61%, 23.81% and 0.58%, respectively. Furthermore, refuse incineration bottom ash was used as a typical deep dewatering reagent, when compared with calcium oxide (CaO), refuse incineration fly ash and iron powder–potassium persulfate (Fe(0)-K 2 S 2 O 8 ). Results showed that the addition of bottom ash powder could decrease the bio-residue’s moisture from 80.0% to 37.9% at the optimal dosage of 2.0%, and corresponding low calorific value reached 10.5 MJ/kg at the 10 th d. It was suggested that ZnCl 2 and ZnSO 4 present in bottom ash powder could react with moisture in bio-residue, forming hydrates of inorganic salt and breaking the polyacrylamide colloid, and lead to the release of adsorbed water in the bio-residue.