Comparative assessment of life-cycle environmental impact of fly ash disposal technology

doi:10.3785/j.issn.1008-973X.2026.06.023

Journal of ZheJiang University (Engineering Science)

2026, Vol. 60

Issue (6): 1361-1368 DOI: 10.3785/j.issn.1008-973X.2026.06.023

Comparative assessment of life-cycle environmental impact of fly ash disposal technology

Shuping PAN1(

),Yuhao LUO1,Shun’an XU2,Bingqian QUAN1,Wei LI3,Sujing LI3,Kexuan YANG1,*(

)

1. Zhejiang Province Ecological Environmental Monitoring Centre, Hangzhou 310012, China
2. Zhejiang Environmental Monitoring Engineering Limited Company, Hangzhou 310018, China
3. College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

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Abstract

A comparative assessment of life-cycle environmental impact was conducted for three disposal methods of municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration fly ash, including landfill, melting and resource utilization disposal. Ten midpoint impacts (including global warming potential (GWP), human toxocity (HT), etc) and three endpoint damages (human health, ecosystem, resource) were quantified. Results showed that 85.24% of landfill’s environmental burden stemmed from leachate treatment, while 66.97% of melting’s negative contribution came from fossil fuel consumption and heavy metal emission. The environmental impact of resource utilization technology was significantly lower than that of the other two technologies. GWP (4.31×10³ kg (converted into carbon dioxide)) was 26% of melting and 47% of landfill, and HT (659 kg (converted into 1,4-Dichlorobenzene)) was 99.98% lower than melting. Total ecological index (5.86×10³) was only 2.2% of melting, though energy consumption remained a bottleneck. Resource utilization disposal delivers superior environmental benefit, and promoting clean energy substitution is key to the green and sustainable transformation.

Key words： municipal solid waste incineration fly ash resource utilization life cycle assessment (LCA) human toxicity (HT) uncertainty analysis

Received: 01 July 2025 Published: 06 May 2026

CLC:

X 799

Fund: 2022年度“领雁”研发攻关计划资助项目（2022C03056）.

Corresponding Authors: Kexuan YANG E-mail: panshuping@zjemc.org.cn;kexuan-yang@zju.edu.cn

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	Shuping PAN
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	Sujing LI
	Kexuan YANG

Cite this article:

Shuping PAN,Yuhao LUO,Shun’an XU,Bingqian QUAN,Wei LI,Sujing LI,Kexuan YANG. Comparative assessment of life-cycle environmental impact of fly ash disposal technology. Journal of ZheJiang University (Engineering Science), 2026, 60(6): 1361-1368.

URL:

https://www.zjujournals.com/eng/10.3785/j.issn.1008-973X.2026.06.023 OR https://www.zjujournals.com/eng/Y2026/V60/I6/1361

飞灰处置技术的生命周期环境影响对比评估

针对城市生活垃圾（MSW）焚烧飞灰的填埋、熔融及资源化3种处置方式，开展生命周期环境影响的对比评估，量化全球变暖潜势（GWP）、人体毒性（HT）在内的10类中点影响以及人体健康、生态系统、资源3类终点损害. 结果表明，填埋85.24%的环境负荷源于渗滤液处理，熔融66.97%的负面贡献来自化石燃料消耗及重金属排放. 资源化技术的环境影响显著低于其他2种技术，GWP（4.31×10³ kg （折算成二氧化碳））仅为熔融的26%和填埋的47%，HT（659 kg（折算成1,4-二氯苯））较熔融降低99.98%. 总生态指数因子（5.86×10³）仅为熔融的2.2%，但能耗仍是主要瓶颈. 资源化技术的环境效益更显著，以清洁能源替代为抓手可推动绿色可持续转型.

关键词： 城市生活垃圾焚烧飞灰, 资源化利用, 生命周期评价（LCA）, 人体毒性（HT）, 不确定性分析

Fig.1 System boundary of fly ash disposal technology

Tab.1 Composition of municipal solid waste and fly ash

Tab.2 Emission of landfill disposal

Tab.3 Emission of melting disposal

Tab.4 Emission of resource recovery disposal

Fig.2 ReCiPe-based environmental assessment path

Fig.3 Overall LCA environmental contribution

Fig.4 LCA characterized analysis

Fig.5 Weighted normalization result of life cycle assessment

Fig.6 Uncertainty analysis of life cycle assessment

Tab.5 Uncertainty fitting parameter


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