Resource recovery from coal fly ash waste: An overview study

Abstract

Coal fly ash (CFA) is a useful byproduct of the combustion of coal. It is composed primarily of almost perfectly spherical aluminosilicate glass particles. This spherical characteristic and other characteristics of CFA should be exploited, rather than simply using CFA as inert filler for construction. Unfortunately, the presence of carbon residues and high levels of heavy metals has so far limited the uses of CFA. Forced leaching methods have been used to improve the technical and environmentally friendly qualities of CFA, but these processes do not seem to be economically viable. Actually, CFA is a major source of Si and Al for the synthesis of industrial minerals. Potential novel uses of CFA, e.g., for the synthesis of ceramic materials, ceramic membrane filters, zeolites, and geopolymers, are reviewed in this article with the intention of exploring new areas that will expand the positive reuse of fly ash, thereby helping to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of CFA disposal.