Utilization of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Bottom Ash in Construction Materials
Summary
Municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash is the granular residue generated after combustion of household and commercial refuse. It comprises silicates, oxides and residual metallic fragments, offering potential as a secondary resource in construction. Research has focused on pre-treatment techniques—such as ageing, washing, magnetic separation and density sorting—to reduce contaminants and improve aggregate quality. Once conditioned, bottom ash can replace natural aggregates in concrete, serve as a raw meal substitute in cement kilns or be incorporated into hot-mix asphalt and road base layers. Mechanical tests reveal that partial replacement levels (often up to 30–50 %) yield satisfactory compressive strength, stiffness and durability when mix designs are optimised. Environmental assessments of leaching behaviour under standard and percolation tests demonstrate that contaminants such as heavy metals and chlorides can be restrained within regulatory limits by combining appropriate treatments with encapsulation in cementitious matrices. The drive towards a circular economy, alongside pressure to conserve virgin materials and reduce landfill, underpins growing industrial interest in bottom ash valorisation. Practical demonstrations in Europe and Asia have shown that treated bottom ash can achieve performance comparable to that of conventional aggregates, while delivering lower embodied carbon and supporting waste-to-resource strategies at scale.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Utilization of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Bottom Ash in Construction Materials publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in utilization of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash in construction materials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Bottom ash: the coarse mineral residue remaining after the incineration of municipal solid waste.
Pozzolanic reaction: a chemical process in which silica- and alumina-rich materials react with calcium hydroxide to form cementitious compounds that enhance strength.
Leaching: the release and transport of soluble substances from a material when in contact with water or other fluids.
Alkali activation: the process of treating aluminosilicate precursors with alkaline solutions (e.g. sodium hydroxide) to produce binders with cement-like properties.
Circular economy: a systems approach aimed at eliminating waste and continually using resources through reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling.
References
- Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) Ashes as Construction Materials—A Review. Materials (2020).
- Recent advances and applications of municipal solid wastes bottom and fly ashes: Insights into sustainable management and conservation of resources. Environmental Technology & Innovation (2021).
- A Review on Cementitious Materials Including Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Bottom Ash (MSWI-BA) as Aggregates. Buildings (2021).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.