A mini review on the separation of Al,Fe and Ti elements from coal fly ash leachate

The electricity demand is increasing rapidly with the development of society and technology.Coal-fired thermal power plants have become one of the primary sources of electricity generation for urbanization.However,coal-fired thermal power plants produce a great amount of by-product coal fly ash every year.Coal fly ash disposal in landfills requires a sizable space and has negative environmental impacts.Therefore,it is crucial to develop new technologies and methods to utilize this enormous volume of solid waste in order to protect the environment.In this review,the fundamental physical and chemical character-istics of coal fly ash are introduced,and afterward the disposal policies and utilization ways of coal fly ash are discussed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the various ways this waste.The leaching of valuable metals in coal fly ash and the extraction of metal elements in leachate under different conditions are also summarized.Furthermore,the possibility of coal fly ash to serve as a supplementary source for mineral resources is analyzed,providing a basis for its extensive use as a raw material in the metal industry in China and worldwide.

Synergistic CO_(2) mineralization using coal fly ash and red mud as a composite system

CO_(2) mineralization plays a critical role in the storage and utilization of CO_(2).Coal fly ash(CFA)and red mud(RM)are widely utilized as CO_(2) mineralizers.However,the inert calcium species in CFA limit its carbonation capacity,meanwhile the substantial Ca^(2+)releasing of RM is hindered by a covering layer of calcium carbonate.In this study,CO_(2) mineralization in a composite system of CFA and RM was investigated to enhance the carbonation capacity.Multiple analyzers were employed to characterize the raw materials and resulting mineralization products.The results demonstrated that a synergistic effect existed in the composite system of CFA and RM,resulting in improving CO_(2) mineralization rate and efficiency.The produced calcium carbonate was ectopically attached the surface of CFA in the composite system,thus slowing down its coverage on the surface of RM.This phenomenon facilitated further releasing Ca^(2+)from the internal RM,thereby enhancing CO_(2) mineralization efficiency.Meanwhile,the inclusion of RM significantly improved the alkalinity of the composite system,which not only promoted the dissolution of Ca^(2+)of the inert CaSO4(H2O)2 in CFA,but also accelerated CO_(2) mineralization rate.The investigation would be beneficial to CO_(2) mineralization using industrial solid wastes.

Experimental study on the activation of coal gasification fly ash from industrial CFB gasifiers

Coal gasification fly ash(CGFA)is an industrial solid waste from the coal circulating fluidized bed(CFB)gasification process,and it needs to be effectively disposed to achieve sustainable development of the environment.To realize the application of CGFA as a precursor of porous carbon materials,the physicochemical properties of three kinds of CGFA from industrial CFB gasifiers are analyzed.Then,the activation potential of CGFA is acquired via steam activation experiments in a tube furnace reactor.Finally,the fluidization activation technology of CGFA is practiced in a bench-scale CFB test rig,and its advantages are highlighted.The results show that CGFA is characterized by a high carbon content in the range of 54.06%–74.09%,an ultrafine particle size(d50:16.3–26.1 μm),and a relatively developed pore structure(specific surface area SSA:139.29–551.97 m^(2)·g^(-1)).The proportion of micropores in CGFA increases gradually with the coal rank.Steam activation experiments show that the pore development of CGFA mainly includes three stages:initial pore development,dynamic equilibrium between micropores and mesopores and pore collapse.The SSA of lignite fly ash(LFA),subbituminous fly ash(SBFA)and anthracite fly ash(AFA)is maximally increased by 105%,13%and 72%after steam activation;the order of the largest carbon reaction rate and decomposition ratio of steam among the three kinds of CGFA is SBFA>LFA>AFA.As the ratio of oxygen to carbon during the fluidization activation of LFA is from 0.09 to 0.19,the carbon conversion ratio increases from 14.4%to 26.8%and the cold gas efficiency increases from 6.8%to 10.2%.The SSA of LFA increases by up to 53.9%during the fluidization activation process,which is mainly due to the mesoporous development.Relative to steam activation in a tube furnace reactor,fluidization activation takes an extremely short time(seconds)to achieve the same activation effect.It is expected to further improve the activation effect of LFA by regulating the carbon conversion ratio range of 27%–35%to create pores in the initial development stage.

Incorporating empirical knowledge into data-driven variable selection for quantitative analysis of coal ash content by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS)has become a widely used atomic spectroscopic technique for rapid coal analysis.However,the vast amount of spectral information in LIBS contains signal uncertainty,which can affect its quantification performance.In this work,we propose a hybrid variable selection method to improve the performance of LIBS quantification.Important variables are first identified using Pearson's correlation coefficient,mutual information,least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(LASSO)and random forest,and then filtered and combined with empirical variables related to fingerprint elements of coal ash content.Subsequently,these variables are fed into a partial least squares regression(PLSR).Additionally,in some models,certain variables unrelated to ash content are removed manually to study the impact of variable deselection on model performance.The proposed hybrid strategy was tested on three LIBS datasets for quantitative analysis of coal ash content and compared with the corresponding data-driven baseline method.It is significantly better than the variable selection only method based on empirical knowledge and in most cases outperforms the baseline method.The results showed that on all three datasets the hybrid strategy for variable selection combining empirical knowledge and data-driven algorithms achieved the lowest root mean square error of prediction(RMSEP)values of 1.605,3.478 and 1.647,respectively,which were significantly lower than those obtained from multiple linear regression using only 12 empirical variables,which are 1.959,3.718 and 2.181,respectively.The LASSO-PLSR model with empirical support and 20 selected variables exhibited a significantly improved performance after variable deselection,with RMSEP values dropping from 1.635,3.962 and 1.647 to 1.483,3.086 and 1.567,respectively.Such results demonstrate that using empirical knowledge as a support for datadriven variable selection can be a viable approach to improve the accuracy and reliability of LIBS quantification.

Ash Detection of Coal Slime Flotation Tailings Based on Chromatographic Filter Paper Sampling and Multi-Scale Residual Network

The detection of ash content in coal slime flotation tailings using deep learning can be hindered by various factors such as foam,impurities,and changing lighting conditions that disrupt the collection of tailings images.To address this challenge,we present a method for ash content detection in coal slime flotation tailings.This method utilizes chromatographic filter paper sampling and a multi-scale residual network,which we refer to as MRCN.Initially,tailings are sampled using chromatographic filter paper to obtain static tailings images,effectively isolating interference factors at the flotation site.Subsequently,the MRCN,consisting of a multi-scale residual network,is employed to extract image features and compute ash content.Within the MRCN structure,tailings images undergo convolution operations through two parallel branches that utilize convolution kernels of different sizes,enabling the extraction of image features at various scales and capturing a more comprehensive representation of the ash content information.Furthermore,a channel attention mechanism is integrated to enhance the performance of the model.The combination of the multi-scale residual structure and the channel attention mechanism within MRCN results in robust capabilities for image feature extraction and ash content detection.Comparative experiments demonstrate that this proposed approach,based on chromatographic filter paper sampling and the multi-scale residual network,exhibits significantly superior performance in the detection of ash content in coal slime flotation tailings.

Alkali desilicated coal fly ash as substitute of bauxite in lime-soda sintering process for aluminum production

By desilication treatment,the Al2O3/SiO2 molar ratio of coal fly ash could be improved to the range of 1.63-2.0.The desilicated coal fly ash(DSCFA)was enriched in alumina extraction.A processing technology was developed for alumina extraction from the DSCFA with the lime sintering process.Ca/(SiO2+TiO2)molar ratio,and NaO/Al2O3 molar ratio,sintering time,and temperature were the most significant parameters impacting on the aluminum extraction efficiency.The optima aluminum extraction efficiency was obtained under conditions of Ca/(SiO2+TiO2)molar ratio of 2.0,NaO/Al2O3 molar ratio of 0.98,and sintering at 1 200 ℃for 60 min.Astandard industrial dissolution method was used under conditions of caustic ratio(αk=n(NaO)/n(Al2O3)of 2.0,Al2O3 concentration of 50 g/L,sodium hydroxide concentration(Nk)of 60.78 g/L,Na2CO3 concentration of 10 g/L,temperature of 85℃, and dissolution duration of 10 min.The final aluminum extraction efficiency was 90%.

Lowering ash slagging and fouling tendency of high-alkali coal by hydrothermal pretreatment

High-alkali species in coal are notorious for causing ash slagging and fouling incidents.In this paper,four high-alkali coals were individually subject to hydrothermal pretreatment(HTP),within a batch-type autoclave at 300 -C for 1 h,and the treated coals were analyzed,along with the oxygen-containing functional groups determined by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer(FT-IR).Then the alkali species and other components in the coal ash were quantified by X-ray fluorescence(XRF)for evaluating the ash slagging and fouling tendency.Apart from this,FactSage was adopted to simulate the occurrence and transformation of alkali species during coal thermal conversion ending at various temperatures.The findings indicate that the treated coals are superior to the parent ones in terms of certain remarkable changes via HTP.The moisture,oxygen and sulfur of the hydrothermally treated coals decline obviously,while the calorific value rises sharply.HTP could reduce the alkali species to less than 2%(%,by weight,equivalent to Na2O in dry ash),with a maximum removal ratio of 88.9%,lowering the ash slagging and fouling tendency.The proposed mechanism of HTP was that the alkali species in coal matrix became released due to the breakage of the coal functional groups and micropores during HTP.

Character of the Si and Al Phases in Coal Gangue and Its Ash

Analysis of the Si and AI phases in coal gangue fuel and its ash is important for use of coal gangue ashes. A comprehensive study by theoretical and experimental analyses with differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction and Infrared Spectroscopy has been made in the present article to explore the diagram of the Si and Al phases in coal gangue fuel and its ashes. It is found that kaolinite and quartz are the main phases in coal gangue fuel. The ratio of moles A1203 to SiO2 （i.e., Al2O3 （mole） / SiO2 （mole）） is usually no more than 0.5 in most coal gangue fuel and its ashes. The kaolinit at about 984℃ releases a large quantity of SiO2, which makes calcine coal gangue more active than coal gangue itself. The relationship between the ratio A1203 （mole）]SiO2（mole）and the components of coal gangue ash is analyzed, resulting in a formula to calculate the quantity of each phase. Applying the formula to the testing samples from an electric plant in north China supports the above conclusions.

Recovering germanium from coal ash by chlorination with ammonium chloride

A new process of enriching germanium from coal ash was developed. The processinvolves in mixing the coal ash and ammonium chloride and then roasting the mixture to producegermanium chloride that is then absorbed by dilute hydrochloric acid and hydrolyzed to germaniumoxide. The germanium recovery reached to 80.2% at the optimum condition: mass ratio of NH_4Cl/coalash is 0.15, roasting temperature 400℃ and roasting time 90 min.

Flux mechanism of compound flux on ash and slag of coal with high ash melting temperature

The melting temperature of Z coal ash was reduced by adding calcium–magnesium compound flux(WCaO/WMgO=1). In the process of simulated coal gasification, the coal ash and slag were prepared. The transformation of minerals in coal ash and slag upon the change of temperature was studied by using X-ray diffraction(XRD). With the increase of temperatures, forsterite in the ash disappears, while the diffraction peak strength of magnesium spinel increases,and the content of the calcium feldspar increases, then the content of the amorphous phase in the ash increases obviously. The species and evolution process of oxygen, silicon, aluminum, calcium, magnesium at different temperatures were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). The decrease of the ash melting point mainly affects the structural changes of silicon, aluminum and oxygen. The coordination of aluminum and oxygen in the aluminum element structure, e.g., tetracoordinated aluminum oxide, was changed. Tetrahedral [AlO4] and hexacoordinated aluminoxy octahedral [AlO6] change with the temperature changing. The addition of Ca2+ and Mg2+ destroys silica chain, making bridge oxide silicon change into non-bridge oxysilicon;and bridge oxygen bond was broken and non-bridge oxygen bond was produced in the oxygen element structure. The addition of calcium and magnesium compound flux reacts with aluminum oxide tetrahedron, aluminum oxide octahedron and silicon tetrahedron to promote the breakage of the bridge oxygen bond. Ca2+ and Mg2+ are easily combined with silicon oxide and aluminum oxide tetrahedron and aluminum. Oxygen octahedrons combine with non-oxygen bonds to generate low-melting temperature feldspars and magnesite minerals, thereby reducing the coal ash melting temperatures. The structure of kaolinite and mullite was simulated by quantum chemistry calculation, and kaolinite molecule has a stable structure.

Catalytic spectrophotometric determination of trace vanadium in fly ash and coal gangue by Triton X-100 enhancing effect

Trace Ⅴ(Ⅴ) catalyzes mightily the decolorization reaction of arsenazo Ⅲ(AsA Ⅲ) by oxidizing with H_2O_2 in a pH 4.0 HAc-NaAc buffer solution, and the addition of TritonX-100 can further increase the sensitivity of the reaction and its catalytic extent is linear withthe content of Ⅴ(Ⅴ). A catalytic spectrophotometric procedure for determining trace Ⅴ(Ⅴ)wasdeveloped. The results show that the maximun absorption of the color solution is at 560 nm and thedetection limit of the method for Ⅴ(Ⅴ) is 0.014 mg·L^(-1). Beer's law is obeyed for Ⅴ(Ⅴ) in therange of 0.00-0.20 mg·L^(-1). The recoveries are 99.0%-104.6%, and the relative standarddeviations (RSD) are 2.7%-3.7%. Combined with ion-exchange resin, the method has been applied to thedetermination of trace vanadium in fly ash and coal gangue with satisfactory results.

The Future Resources for Eco-building Materials:Ⅱ. Fly Ash and Coal Waste

To use fly ash and coal waste effectively, the current technologies for reprocessing and recycling these wastes into eco-building materials were reviewed, such as utilizing fly ash as the component of fly ash cement and low heat cement after the processes of separation, removal of carbon remains and fine comminution, calcining coal waste into kaolin and meta-kaolin with suspension technology, and preparing clinkerless alkali-activated geopolymer materials with fly ash and meta-kaolin.

Hydrothermal synthesis of zeolites-calcium silicate hydrate composite from coal fly ash with co-activation of Ca(OH)_(2)-NaOH for aqueous heavy metals removal

Coal fly ash is a typical secondary aluminum/silicon resource.The preparation of zeolite-type absorbent is a potential way for its value-added utilization,while the purity and adsorption property of zeolite are limited due to the occurrence of side reactions in the synthesis process.In this study,a designated composite consisted of crystalline zeolites and amorphous calcium silicate hydrate was selected,which was direct synthesized from fly ash under conditions of a Ca/Si molar ratio of 0.8,an initial NaOH concentration of 0.5 mol/L,a hydrothermal temperature of 170℃and a liquid–solid ratio of 15 mL/g.The results indicated that this composite had superior adsorption property for a variety of heavy metals,which was based on the exchange of calcium and sodium ions in zeolites and calcium silicate hydrate.Its adsorption capacities for Pb^(2+),Ni^(2+),Cd^(2+),Zn^(2+),Cu^(2+)and Cr^(3+)attained 409.4,222.4,147.5,93.2,101.1 and 157.0 mg/g,respectively,in single solution with a pH of 4.5.After regulating the synthesis conditions,the transformation of amorphous calcium silicate hydrate into crystallized tobermorite weakened the adsorption capacity of the composite.Besides,due to the competitive adsorption in a multiple ions solution,the adsorption capacities for these heavy metals had a reduction.

Modification of ash flow properties of coal rich in calcium and iron by coal gangue addition

Flow property of coal ash and slag is an important parameter for slag tapping of entrained flow gasifier.The viscosity of slag with high contents of calcium and iron exhibits the behavior of a crystalline slag,of which viscosity sharply increases when temperature is lowered than temperature of critical viscosity(TCV).The fluctuation in temperature near the TCVcan cause an accumulation of slag inside the gasifier.In order to prevent slag blockage,it is necessary to adjust the ash composition by additive to modify the flow property of coal rich in calcium and iron.Main components of coal gangue are Al_(2)O_(3) and SiO_(2),which is a potential additive to modify the ash flow properties of these coals.In this work,we investigated the ash flow properties of a typical coal rich in calcium and iron by adding coal gangue with different SiO_(2)/Al_(2)O_(3)ratio.The results showed that the ash fusion temperatures(AFTs)firstly decreased,and then increased with increasing amount of coal gangue addition.Chemical composition of coal ash rich in calcium and iron moved from gehlenite primary phase to anorthite,quartz and corundum primary phases.The slags with coal gangue addition behaved as a glassy slag,of which the viscosity gradually increased as temperature decreased.Besides,a high SiO_(2)/Al_(2)O_(3)ratio of coal gangue was beneficial to modify the slag viscosity behavior.Addition of coal gangue with a high SiO_(2)/Al_(2)O_(3)ratio impeded formation of crystalline phases during cooling.This work demonstrated that coal gangue addition was an effective way to improve the ash flow properties of the coal rich in calcium and iron for the entrained flow gasifier.

Triboelectrostatic Separation-an Efficient Method of Producing Low Ash Clean Coal

At present, coal is mainly consumed as fuel. In fact, coal is also a kind of precious raw material in chemical industry on the premise that some harmful minerals should be removed from coal. The paper presents the results of the research on producing low ash (<2%) coal with triboelectrostatic separator used for producing high-grade active carbon. The test is conducted in bench-scale system, whose capacity is 30～100 kg/h. The results indicate that: 1) the ash content of clean coal increases with the increase of solid content of feedstock, on the contrary, the yield of clean coal is declining; 2) a high velocity may result in a good separation efficiency; 3) for the same solid content, the reunion caused by intermolecular force makes the separation efficiency drop down when the ultra-fine coal is separated; 4) the separation efficiency is improved with the increase of electric field intensity, but there is a good optimized match between the electric field intensity and yield of clean coal; 5) a low rank coal is easy-to-wash in triboelectrostatic separation process; 6) the yield of clean coal can be enhanced and the ash decreased through adapting optimized conditions according to various coals.

Dissolution of Rare Earth Elements from Coal Fly Ash Particles in a Dilute H₂SO₄Solvent

Recently, the worldwide supply of rare earth element (REE) resources will be severely restricted. On the other hand, coal fly ash particles emitted from coal-fired electric power plants contain relatively high concentrations of REEs. The contents of REEs in coal fly ash are regularly several hundreds of ppmw. In order to extract and recover REEs from coal fly ash particles, as a first step, we have investigated their dissolution behavior in a dilute H2SO4 solvent. The REE content of coal fly ash specimens has been precisely determined, and their presence in the ash component of the original coal and their enrichment in coal fly ash particles during coal combustion have been suggested. REEs in coal fly ash dissolve gradually in H2SO4 over time, and this implies two types of occurrences of the REEs in coal fly ash particles. By applying the unreacted core model to the dissolution behavior of REEs in a H2SO4 solvent, we can explain both types of occurrences.

Removal of Cr (VI) from Aqueous Solution Using Ultrafine Coal Fly Ash

Coal fly ashes WSRA and BQRA were ball milled for 5 h to produce their ultrafine coal fly ashes WSUA and BQUA, respectively. Batch kinetic, isotherm and pH effect on adsorption were studied to evaluate removal of Cr （VI） from aqueous solutions by ultrafine coal fly ashes comparing with raw coal fly ashes. The kinetics of adsorption indicates the process to be intraparticle diffusion controlled and follows the Lagergren first-order kinetics for all coal fly ashes. The first-order rate constants （k1） of Cr （VI） adsorption onto WSRA, WSUA, BQRA and BQUA are 1.981, 1.497, 2.119 and 1.500 （×10^-2） min^-1, respectively. The adsorption capacities of WSUA and BQUA are much better than those of WSRA and BQRA. Equilibrium adsorption data of all coal fly ashes well satisfy the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorbed amounts of Cr （VI） onto WSUA and BQUA decrease from pH 2 to pH 6 and then increase up to pH 12.

Bioleaching of trace elements and rare earth elements from coal fly ash

Coal fly ash originated from coal combustion has high concentrations of metals. If suitable leaching techniques are identified, then coal fly ash could serve as a useful source of valuable minerals including rare earth elements (REEs). In this study, three microbial strains, Candida bombicola, Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Cryptococcus curvatus were tested on their performance of leaching trace elements and REEs from fly ash. Through comparing mineral loss and leaching efficiencies resulting from indirect leaching or use of the culture supernatant, C. bombicola was identified to be the best leading to the highest mineral loss and extracting efficiencies of trace elements and REEs among the three strains. The highest mineral loss observed from using the supernatant of this yeast strain was 59.7%. Among all trace elements, As and Mo had the highest leaching efficiency of 80.9% and 79.5%. respectively. The same leaching test led to 67.7% of Yb and 64.6% of Er dissolved from the ash. This study, thus, demonstrated that bioleaching is feasible for leaching metals out of fly ash. The C. bombicola strain deserves further investigation due to its robust actions on metal leaching.

Removal of lead(Pb(Ⅱ))and zinc(Zn(Ⅱ))from aqueous solution using coal fly ash(CFA)as a dual-sites adsorbent

Coal fly ash(CFA)is composed of minerals containing some oxides in crystalline phase(i.e.,quartz and mullite),as well as unburned carbon as mesoporous material,thus enabling CFA to act as a dual-sites adsorbent with unique properties.This work focused on the adsorption of Pb(Ⅱ)and Zn(Ⅱ)from binary system,a mixture containing two metal ion solutions present simultaneously,onto NaOH-modified CFA(MCFA).Several adsorption tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of several parameters,including pH and contact times.The experiment results indicated that chemical treatment of CFA with NaOH increased pore volume from 0.021 to 0.223 cm^3·g^(-1).In addition,it could also enhance the availability of functional groups on both minerals and unburned carbon,resulting in almost 100%Pb(Ⅱ)and 97%Zn(Ⅱ)adsorbed.The optimum pH for adsorption system was pH=3 and quasi-equilibrium occurred in 240 minutes.Equilibrium data from the experimental results were analyzed using Modified Extended Langmuir(MEL)and Competitive Adsorption Langmuir-Langmuir(CALL)isotherm models.The analysis results showed that the CALL isotherm model could better describe the Pb(Ⅱ)and Zn(Ⅱ)adsorption process onto MCFA in binary system compared with MEL isotherm model.

Influence of Coal Fly Ash Particle Size on Structure and Adsorption Properties of Forming Adsorbents for Cr^6＋

Forming adsorbents FFA-R,FFA-A and FFA-B were prepared from different particle size coal fly ashes FA-R,FA-A and FA-B,their average particle sizes（d_（50）） were 15.75,3.61 and 1.73 μm respectively.The structure and adsorption properties for Cr^（6＋） of forming adsorbents from aqueous solution were studied.The results show that forming adsorbent prepared from the coal fly ash with smaller particle size exhibits higher specific surface area,higher pore volume and better adsorption properties for Cr^（6＋）.The adsorption kinetics of Cr^（6＋） on FFA-R,FFA-A and FFA-B fitts the second order kinetic model and the second adsorption rate constants are 7.523,3.197 and 2.187 mg·g^（-1）·min^（-1/2）,respectively.The adsorption of Cr^（6＋） on FFA-R,FFA-A and FFA-B can be described in terms of Langmuir isotherms better,and the adsorption processes are spontaneous and exothermic.