Multielement determination and distributions of major-to-ultratrace elements in industrial waste incineration bottom ash as studied by ICP-AES and ICP-MS

The multielement determination of major-to-ultratrace elements in industria l waste incineration bottom ash was carried out by inductively coupled plas ma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma ma ss spectrometry (ICP-MS) after alkali fusion using LiBO2. The concentration s of 50 elements in bottom ash could be determined over the concentration r ange from 192 mg g(-1) of Si to 0.072 mug g(-1) of In. Silicon, Al, Fe, Ca, Na, and Ti, which except for Fe are lithophile elements, were major elemen ts of industrial waste incineration bottom ash. The distributions of major- to-ultratrace elements in incineration bottom ash were evaluated by the enr ichment factors. The enrichment factors of major elements in incineration b ottom ash indicated that their relative contents were quite similar to thos e in the continental crust. It was also found that most minor and trace ele ments in the lithophile element group provided almost the same enrichment f actors as those of major elements. On the other hand, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in the chalcophile element group as well as some of the siderophile ones, suc h as Co and Ni, provided the significantly larger enrichment factors, altho ugh they were more enriched in fly ash than in bottom ash. Such large abund ances of many transition elements in industrial waste incineration ashes ma y reflect the large amounts of metal use in industry as well as in modem so ciety.