CHARACTERIZATION OF INCINERATED MEDICAL WASTE RESIDUES USING BATCH LEACHING

The hospital wastes produced during the course of health-care activities pose a threat to public health and environment than any other type of wastes. In the present paper physiochemical properties of the incinerated solid waste sample such as sampling, batch test operation, sequential extraction and chemical speciation have been studied. The results show that the concentration of heavy metals decreases with increase in L/S ratio. Batch test analyse shows the static view of leachate produced by the ash and sequential extraction shows the potential mobility of heavy metals. Chemical speciation and distribution of heavy metals varied greatly this trend was due to the higher ion exchange capacity of the extractants and formation of anionic metal species, leading to more metal species leaching out of each chemical fraction.