According to data of the Central Statistical Office, the amount of sludge produced in municipal wastewater treatment plants in 2010 amounted to 526000 Mg d.m. The forecast of municipal sewage sludge amount in 2015 according to KPGO2014 will reach 642400 Mg d.m. and is expected to increase in subsequent years. Significant amounts of sludge will create problems due to its utilization. In order to solve this problem the use of thermal methods for sludge utilization is expected. According to the National Waste Management Plan nearly 30% of sewage sludge mass should be thermally utilized by 2022. The article presents the results of co-combustion of coal and municipal sewage sludge in a bubbling fluidized bed boiler made by SEFAKO and located in the Municipal Heating Company in Morag. Four tests of hard coal and sewage sludge co-combustion have been conducted. Boiler performance, emissions and ash quality were investigated.

An increasing number of municipal sewage treatment plants in Poland, desirable from an environmental perspective, raises the problem of managing the growing volume of sewage sludge. The thermal treatment of municipal sewage sludge (TTMSS) method, by greatly reducing the waste volume, increases the heavy metal concentration in fly ash (primary, end product of the treatment process), which may constitute a risk factor when attempting to utilize them economically. The research paper concentrates on determining the TTMSS fly ash heavy metal leaching level. For this purpose, ash samples were subjected to leaching with the batch and percolation tests, and the heavy metal content in eluates was determined by the FAAS method. The obtained results served as a base to determine the level of heavy metal immobilization in the ash, the element release mechanism (percolation test), and the impact of the L/S (liquid to solid) ratio and pH on the heavy metal leaching intensity (percolation test). The conducted research indicated high immobilization of heavy metals in TTMSS fly ash, regardless of the applied study method, which corresponds to the results of other researchers. Lead was the most intensively eluted metal.

The growing number of municipal sewage treatment plants in Poland raises the problem of managing more and more sludge. The thermal treatment of municipal sewage sludge (TTMSS), which significantly reduces the volume of waste, results in an increase in the concentration of heavy metals in the fly ashes – the final products of the process. The search for methods of utilization of fly ash from TTMSS resulted in attempts to use it in hardening slurries widely used in hydro-engineering. Due to the nature of the application of this material in the cut-off walls (exposure to groundwater flow) one of the key issues is the degree of heavy metal immobilization. The paper attempted to determine the degree of leaching of selected heavy metals from the hardened hardening slurry, composed of fly ash from TTMSS. For this purpose, the eluates were prepared from samples, after various periods of curing, using a dynamic short-term method called "Batch test". The liquid used for leaching was: distilled water and 0.1 molar EDTA solution – to determine the amount of potentially mobile heavy metal forms. The results show the possibility of the safe usage of fly ash from TTMSS as an additive for hardening slurries.

Along with the increase in popularity of the sewage sludge thermal treatment methods in Poland

resulting from the implementation of European Union law, a management problem with ash, which is produced

as a result of this process, appeared. The paper analyses the chemical composition and physical properties of fl y

ash from thermal treatment of municipal sewage sludge in terms of its use in concrete technologies in relation to

EN 450-1 Fly ash for concrete. Defi nition, specifi cations and conformity criteria (2012) and EN 197-1 Cement.

Composition, specifi cations and conformity criteria for common cements (2011) standards. The tested material did

not meet the requirements related to use of fl y ash for concrete production (chemical composition, low activity

index, high water demand and fi neness), and as main and minor components for cement production. On the basis

of the carried out research and analyses, it was found that the hardening slurry technology creates the greatest

possibilities related to the management of fl y ash from thermal treatment of municipal sewage sludge.