Treatment of ash from incineration of medical wastes by leaching and precipitation at Luwero industries limited

Abstract

This research project is about treatment of ash from incineration of medical wastes at Luwero Industries Limited in Nakasongola district. The research was successfully conducted with the help of the supervisors at the Industry. It was found that the ash from medical waste contains various heavy metals which included cadmium, lead, chromium, copper, zinc, arsenic, mercury and nickel. The concentration of heavy metals in ash was determined by dissolving a sample of ash (10g) in Nitic acid. These metals were then removed using Sodium hydroxide and the average percentage removal was above 50% which shows that this method is effective in removing the metals. The method is simple and cheap which makes it easy to be implemented. Lead was found to have the highest concentration while mercury had the lowest concentration in ash. Treatment of ash is mainly important for environment protection against pollution especially in control of contaminants. In conclusion the method was very effective, simple and cheap and therefore should be implemented by the industry.