Leachability of Heavy Metals from Autoclaved Fly Ash-Lime Building Bricks

Abstract

The fly ash as a byproduct of coal-fired power plants constitutes vital ecological problems. In Turkey, approximately 15 million tons of ashes are generated via the combustion of 40 million tons of lignite yearly. Worldwide, a number of investigation and applications were undertaken to utilize fly ash in order to overcome the environmental problems. One of the application area of fly ashes is the production of building bricks. Characterization of fly ash samples from Seyitomer and Yatagan coal-firing power plants were conducted in this study. TCLP 1311, ASTM3987-85 and EN 12457-2 leaching tests on the cylindrical fly ash/lime brick (FA/LB) samples which were produced from Seyitömer and Yatagan thermal power plant fly ash-lime mixtures were performed to determine the leachability of some chosen trace elements. The results show that the release of all trace elements was lower than the hazardous material limit values of waste acceptance. Thus, non- fired fly ash bricks are an advantageous way to solving environmental effect of disposal of fly ashes.