The leachability and chemical speciation of selected trace elements in fly ash from coal combustion and refuse incineration

A laboratory leaching test has been used to predict the potential mobility of As, Se, Pb and Cd in landfilled fly ash produced by coal combustion and refuse incineration. These waste residues also formed the basis of a speciation study in which the valency states of As and Se and the chemical forms of Pb and Cd have been determined. Selenium displayed the greatest leachability in each ash type, despite being present at relatively low concentrations in both materials. Substantial amounts of other trace elements were also leached, particularly Pb and Cd from refuse ash and As from coal ash. Chemical associations of Pb and Cd were examined by a sequential extraction procedure. In coal fly ash, both elements were mostly present in the residual fraction, while in refuse ash these elements were mainly associated with the exchangeable fraction. Water-soluble extracts of coal fly ash contained As exclusively as As(V); high background interference prevented the detection of water-soluble As in refuse ash. Selenium was present largely as Se(IV) in aqueous extracts of both ash types. The value of speciation techniques and leaching tests as predictors of environmental behaviour is discussed in conjunction with results of routine trace element determinations and plant uptake studies.     

The role of ammonia on mercury leaching from coal fly ash

The Federal Clean Air Interstate Rule issued in March 2005 will result in many power plants employing ammonia-based technologies to control NO(x) emission. The Clean Air Mercury Rule, issued at the same time, will encourage many power plants to use various technologies to remove mercury from flue gas, generating fly ashes that contain elevated concentrations of mercury. Ammonia forms relatively strong complexes with mercury compared to most other cationic elements and, therefore, may change the leaching characteristics of mercury. Understanding the impact of ammonia on the leaching of mercury from fly ash is critical in predicting the potential environmental impact of future fly ash. Batch methods were used to investigate the ammonia impact on mercury leaching from fly ash under different pH conditions. The results indicated that mercury leaching without external ammonia addition is not significant. However, ammonia addition increased mercury leaching in the alkaline pH range, due to the formation of less adsorbable mercury-ammonia complexes. Washed ash released more mercury than the raw ash if the ammonia concentration is the same, mainly due to the dissolution of some ash components during washing which exposed more mercury on ash surface. Mercury adsorption data indicated that more than 90% of available mercury was adsorbed by fly ash even in the presence of 1000 mg l(-1) ammonia addition.     

Release of mercury vapor from coal combustion ash

The long-term stability of Hg in coal combustion by-products (CCBs) was evaluated at ambient and near-ambient temperatures. Six CCB samples with atypically high levels of total Hg were selected for study assuming a greater potential for release of measurable amounts of Hg vapor. The samples selected included two fly ash samples from U.S. eastern bituminous coal, two fly ash samples from South African low-rank coal, one fly ash from Powder River Basin (PRB) subbituminous coal blended with petroleum coke, and one PRB subbituminous coal fly ash incorporated with flue gas desulfurization material. Air scrubbed of Hg was passed through compacted 100-g aliquots of each sample at 1 mL/min and vented to a gold-coated quartz trap to collect released Hg vapor. The samples were maintained at ambient and near-ambient (37 degrees C) temperatures. All samples released low-picogram levels of Hg after 90 days. No pattern was evident to link the total Hg content to the rate of release of Hg vapor. An average of 0.030 pg Hg/g CCB/day was released from the samples, which equates to 2.2 x 10(-8) lb Hg/ton CCB/year. If this were applied to a coal-fired power plant production of 200,000 tons of fly ash per year, there would be a maximum potential release of 0.0044 lb, or 2.00 g, of Hg per year. Experiments are continuing to determine long-term vapor release of Hg from CCBs. All samples have been set up in duplicate at ambient temperature with an improved apparatus to reevaluate results reported in this article.     

Separation and characterization of magnetic fractions from waste-to-energy bottom ash with an emphasis on the leachability of heavy metals

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Magnetic fractions were extracted from pulverized waste-to-energy (WTE) bottom ashes using a combined wet-dry extraction method. The resulting...     

Influence of coexisting surface-active agents on leachability of dioxins in raw and treated fly ash from an MSW incinerator

The leaching behavior of dioxins from raw and treated fly ash (FA) under the coexistence of several types of surface-active agents (SAAs) was examined by batch leaching tests to obtain significant information not only for evaluating leachability of dioxins as hydrophobic organic pollutants (HOPs) under the severe environment in which SAAs coexist, but also for evaluating the reduction efficiency of dioxin-leachability from the treated FA. Enhancement of dioxin-leachability by sufficient addition of SAAs was observed in the leaching test, whereas addition of a smaller quantity depressed the leachability. The higher the degree of chlorination in PCDDs/PCDFs homologues, the more effectively the SAAs enhanced the leachability. Moreover, there was a large difference in the potential for leachability enhancement due to each surface activity, based on critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the SAAs although Aldrich humic acid enhanced the leachability at a much lower concentration than CMC. A comparison of the leachability in FA treated by several methods showed a difference in the reduction efficiency of leachability, depending on the adsorption of SAAs by each treated FA.     

粉煤灰制备高纯分子筛及对氨氮的去除

结合碱熔处理和引入晶种的方法,用粉煤灰制备出高纯的分子筛。运用XRD,SEM和BET等技术手段对制备的纯分子筛的晶体类型,形貌结构和物理参数等进行表征。通过续批实验,研究了pH值,投加量和初始氨氮浓度对氨氮去除的影响。实验结果表明,这些实验参数对于制备的分子筛去除氨氮有着重要的影响。其动力学行为非常符合准二级动力学方程。Langmuir方程能较好描述分子筛对氨氮的等温吸附过程,相关系数为0.9919。因此,利用粉煤灰制备高纯分子筛可以高效去除氨氮并达到"以废治废"的价值。     

Synthesis of high-purity Na-A and Na-X zeolite from coal fly ash

Coal fly ash (CFA) was used as a raw material for the synthesis of zeolite molecular sieve. The synthesis began with the pretreatment of CFA to remove impurities (e.g., Fe₂O₃, CaO, etc.) under various acid types (HCl, H₂SO₄, and HNO₃) and acid/CFA ratios (5–25 mL_acid/g_CFA). High product purity (up to 97%) was achieved with HCl (20%wt), and acid/CFA ratio of 20 mL_HCl/g_CFA. The treated CFA was then converted to zeolite by the fusion reaction under various Si/Al molar ratios (0.54–1.84). Zeolite type A was synthesized when the Si/Al molar ratios were lower than 1, whereas sodium aluminum silicate hydrate was formed when the Si/Al molar ratio were higher than 1. The highest water adsorption performance of the zeolite product, i.e., the outlet ethanol concentration of 99.9%wt and the specific adsorption capacity of 2.31 × 10^?2 g_water/g_zeolite, was observed with the Si/Al molar ratio of 0.82. The zeolite was tested for its water adsorption capacity repeatedly 10 times without deactivation.

Implications: This work evaluated the technical feasibility in the conversion of CFA to zeolite, which would help reduce the quantity of waste needed to be landfilled. This adds value to the unwanted material by converting it into something that can be further used. The synthesized products were shown to be quite stable as water adsorbent for the dehydration of ethanol solution.     

烧结活化-酸浸法浸出粉煤灰中铝元素

为实现粉煤灰的高效资源化,并控制资源化过程中的能耗,采用NaOH为烧结助剂,利用烧结活化-酸浸法浸出粉煤灰中的铝元素;在探究最佳工艺条件的同时,通过分析烧结产物矿物组成及官能团的变化来探究粉煤灰烧结活化的机理。结果表明,当烧结温度为550 °C、NaOH/CFA 质量比=1.40、硫酸浓度为30%、烧结时间为10 min的条件下,铝元素浸出率可达95.00%以上。在粉煤灰烧结活化过程中,莫来石及非晶态硅铝化合物与NaOH反应,其中的铝氧八面体结构转变为铝氧四面体结构,铝氧四面体与硅氧四面体结构相结合形成以四元环和六元环为基本结构的铝硅酸盐,即八面沸石和霞石。在酸浸过程中,八面沸石和霞石与硫酸发生反应使铝元素以离子形式存在于酸浸液中,其中霞石相更有利于烧结产物的酸浸过程。该研究结果可为烧结活化-酸浸法浸出粉煤灰中铝元素提供参考。     

粉煤灰资源化的现状

本文检索了国内外综合利用粉煤灰的有关文献 ,由粉煤灰特性入手 ,介绍了它在农业、建筑、环保等行业的资源化现状。指出粉煤灰作为二次资源的重要意义 ,并对粉煤灰资源化提出了一些设想     

An assessment of the significance of mercury release from coal fly ash

Some mercury (Hg) naturally present in coal is retained in the fly ash remaining after combustion. Concern has been raised regarding the potential for release of this Hg to the environment. The exchange of Hg between fly ash and the atmosphere was measured in the laboratory and in situ at a fly ash landfill. All samples of fly ash used in the laboratory study, with the exception of that derived from lignite-type coal, acted as a sink for atmospheric Hg. Deposition rates were found to increase as air Hg concentrations increased and to decrease with incident light and increased temperature. Addition of water to fly ash samples resulted in re-emission of deposited atmospheric Hg. Deposition was the dominant flux measured in situ at a fly ash landfill. Atmospheric Hg was deposited to all samples collected as part of two demonstration projects using carbon injection for enhanced Hg capture. Hg concentrations of extracts derived using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Method 1312 (Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure) were < or = 14.4 ng/L. Data developed demonstrate that fly ash, including that collected from Hg removal projects, will release little Hg to the air or water, and under certain conditions, absorbs Hg from the air.     

Removal of cationic dyes from aqueous solutions using microspherical particles of fly ash

Batch sorption experiments were carried out for the removal of cationic dyes (methylene blue and malachite green) from their aqueous solutions using sorbent made from fly ash-a waste material. Effects of various experimental parameters: initial dye concentration, contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage, solution temperature, surfactant addition and ionic strength on the fly ash sorption of dyes were evaluated. The isothermal data for sorption followed the Langmuir model. The maximum sorption capacity obtained for methylene blue and malachite green was 36.05 mg/g and 40.65 mg/g, respectively. Kinetic studies indicate that sorption on fly ash follows the pseudo-second order kinetics. Present research suggests that fly ash could be an appropriate adsorbent for the removal of basic dyes from aqueous solutions.     

用于粉煤灰排放的加湿卸灰设备

针对粉煤灰排放产生二次污染问题，经过分析比较，选用了科学的加湿排放工作原理，设计了用于粉煤灰排放的新型灰料加湿卸灰机。     

用于粉煤灰排放的加湿卸灰设备

针对粉煤灰排放产生二次污染问题,经过分析比较,选用了科学的加湿排放工作原理,设计了用于粉煤灰排放的新型灰料加湿卸灰机。     

粉煤灰沸石负载铈掺杂TiO2对水体中蒽的去除

采用溶胶-凝胶法在80℃条件下制备了锐钛矿型稀土铈掺杂Ti02负载粉煤灰沸石光催化剂(以下简称光催化剂).利用X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电镜(SEM)对光催化剂进行了表征,同时考察了稀土铈掺杂量、光催化剂投加量、溶液pH以及蒽初始浓度对其光降解过程的影响,并研究了蒽的光降解动力学特性.结果表明,稀土铈掺杂量为0.50％(质量分数)、pH偏碱性时蒽的光降解效果最佳.光催化反应符合Langmuir-Hinshelwood动力学模型,蒽的光降解过程符合一级反应动力学模型,反应速率常数为0.0173min-i.     

Geochemical investigations of metals release from submerged coal fly ash using extended elutriate tests

A storage pond dike failure occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority Kingston Fossil Plant that resulted in the release of over 3.8 million cubic meters (5 million cubic yards) of fly ash. Approximately half of this material deposited in the main channel of the Emory River, 3.5 km upstream of the confluence of the Emory and Clinch Rivers, Tennessee, USA. Remediation efforts to date have focused on targeted removal of material from the channel through hydraulic dredging, as well as mechanical excavation in some areas. The agitation of the submerged fly ash during hydraulic dredging introduces river water into the fly ash material, which could alter the redox state of metals present in the fly ash and thereby change their sorption and mobility properties. A series of extended elutriate tests were used to determine the concentration and speciation of metals released from fly ash. Results indicated that arsenic and selenium species released from the fly ash materials during elutriate preparation were redox stable over the course of 10d, with dissolved arsenic being present as arsenate, and dissolved selenium being present as selenite. Concentrations of certain metals, such as arsenic, selenium, vanadium, and barium, increased in the elutriate waters over the 10d study, whereas manganese concentrations decreased, likely due to oxidation and precipitation reactions.     

Assessment of the content,occurrence, and leachability of arsenic,lead, and thallium in wastes from coal cleaning processes

The aim of the study was to evaluate the content, occurrence, and leachability of arsenic (As), lead (Pb), and thallium (Tl) in wastes from coal cleaning processes with respect to the safe management of this waste. The study focused on wastes resulting from the wet gravitation and flotation processes employed for the purposes of coking coal cleaning in four coal mines situated in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland). The scope of the study included (i) determination of the content of these elements in the investigated wastes using atomic absorption spectrometry, (ii) evaluation of their mode of occurrence using electron microprobe analysis, and (iii) preliminary assessment of their leachability in deionized water. The content of the analyzed elements in the examined samples of coal waste was twice as high as the average content of these elements in the Earth’s crust. The contents of As and Pb, however, did not exceed their permissible contents in inert waste in accordance with Polish legal regulations based on EU directives. The limit on the content of Tl is not specified by these regulations, but its amount in the examined samples was similar to that occurring in the soils. Moreover, leaching tests have shown that these elements are hardly eluted from the analyzed material. Their content in the water leachates was generally lower than the detection limit of the analytical method, complying with the standards for good and very good water quality. Low leachability of these elements most probably results from their mode of occurrence in the investigated wastes. The chemical analysis using an electron microprobe and the analysis of the correlation between these elements, e.g., total and pyritic sulfur, have shown that Pb, As, and Tl are mainly found in sulfide minerals which are characterized by negligible solubility. In conclusion, the investigated hard coal processing waste does not constitute a threat to the environment and can be commercially used or safely neutralized, e.g., by landfilling.

     

利用粉煤灰硫酸浸取液制备十二水硫酸铝铵

粉煤灰提取氧化铝是粉煤灰高值化利用的重要方向.通过在粉煤灰酸浸液中加入硫酸铵形成常温下可结晶的十二水硫酸铝铵晶体(NH4Al(SO4)2·12H2O),从而实现铝盐的高效分离.考察了结晶温度、NH4+/Al3+摩尔比,初始Al3+浓度等因素对铝回收及NH4Al(SO4)2·12H2O结晶的影响;利用电感耦合等离子光谱仪(ICP)和X射线衍射仪(XRD)对晶体中的杂质含量及晶体组成进行了分析.结果表明,随着结晶温度的升高,铝回收率显著下降,但晶体纯度升高;铝回收率和晶体纯度均随着NH4+/Al3+摩尔比的增加而增加;较高的初始Al3+浓度可促进铝的回收和晶体纯度的提高.对十二水硫酸铝铵的结晶过程进行优化,结果表明,在结晶温度为15℃;NH4+/Al3+摩尔比为1.0~1.5;初始Al3+浓度为0.88 mol/L时,铝的回收率可达74%,十二水硫酸铝铵纯度在90%以上.     

粉煤灰免烧陶粒制备及其重金属废水净化性能

摘要重金属废水对环境的污染已经引起科研人员的广泛关注。以粉煤灰和水泥为原料、添加活性成分FeS,制备一种免烧陶粒用于含重金属Cu2＋、Zn2＋、Pb2＋的废水处理。探讨了物料配比及蒸养时间对陶粒筒压强度及其比表面积的影响;研究了固液比、接触时间、pH、温度及初始溶液浓度等因素对Cu2＋、Zn2＋、Pb2＋离子净化效果的影响规律,并对实验结果进行了等温线拟合。XRD分析显示,免烧陶粒中存在Ca（OH）2、C—D—H、FeS等矿物相,对重金属离子具有非常好的固定化作用。该免烧陶粒对重金属离子具有很好的去除效果,具备较好的应用前景。     

Effect of fly ash characteristics on the removal of Cu(II) from aqueous solution

Fly ash is a particulate substance containing metal oxides, carbon and other microelements. In this study, fly ashes with different quantities of carbon and minerals prepared by a thermal process in the laboratory were used as adsorbents to investigate the contribution of precipitation and adsorption to the removal of aqueous Cu(II). Experimental results showed that the specific surface area of fly ash increased linearly with the quantity of carbon. The specific surface areas of the carbon and mineral fraction were 60 m2/g and 0.68 m2/g, respectively. The specific adsorption capacities of carbon ranged from 2.2 to 2.8 mg Cu/g carbon, while those for mineral were only about 0.63 to approximately 0.81 mg Cu/g mineral. Consequently, the carbon fraction in fly ash was important in the removal of Cu(II) at pH 5. However, Cu(II) removal owing to precipitation increases with a decreasing carbon fraction and the contribution of copper precipitation was estimated to be approximately 23% to approximately 82% of total removal, depending on the carbon fraction of fly ash.