Utilization of thermal industry waste: From trash to cash

• Main Author: Prasanta Kumar Rout
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Applied Science Innovations Private Limited 2019-06-01
• Series: Carbon: Science and Technology
• Subjects: Fly ash; Alkali activation; Geopolymer; Construction industry
• Online Access: http://www.applied-science-innovations.com/cst-web-site/CST-11-2-2019/CST-344-11-2-2019-43-48.pdf

Million tons of coals are being burned every year to meet the electric power requirement in India. Fly ash powder, a by-product recovered from the gases of burning pulverized coal in thermal power plants contains alumina, silica, iron oxide and other heavy metals as well and cause air, soil and water pollution. So, in this present study, attempt have been made to investigate the potential utilization of fly ash collected from north eastern region of India to make some valuable products which will be used in construction industry. Authors have adapted a green technology i.e. geopolymerization technology for making the same. Geopolymerization process is associated with the alkali activation of materials which are rich in amorphous alumino-silicate. In this present investigation, sodium hydroxide is used as an alkaline activator for the dissolution of fly ash powder. The geopolymerization process has been performed using 8 M, 10 M and 12 M sodium hydroxide solution cured under artificial conditions. The mechanical property (compressive strength) was determined by using compression testing machine. Further, the strength data of the geopolymeric samples were co related with the results obtained from various characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).