A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE ZEOLITIZATION OF COAL FLY ASH FROM TPP “MARITSA 3” WITH NAOH AND KOH

11th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM2011, www.sgem.org, SGEM2011 Conference Proceedings/ ISSN 1314-2704, June 20-25, 2011, Vol. 3, 159-166 pp

ABSTRACT

A comparative study on the zeolitization of coal fly ash from thermo-power plant
“Maritsa 3” (Dimitrovgrad) with KOH and NaOH solutions of different concentrations
has been made. The initial materials have been activated by application of
“conventional” method of hydrothermal treatment at temperatures near 100°C,
atmosphere pressure and liquid/solid ratio of 10 ml.g-1. Three concentration levels for
KOH and four concentration levels for NaOH have been used. The initial fly ashes and
the obtained zeolitized fly ash materials have been investigated by means of scanning
electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-Ray analyses. The presence of zeolites in
the activated fly ashes has been confirmed by X-Ray Diffraction spectroscopy.

Keywords: Coal fly ash, Zeolitization, Alkali activation, SEM-EDX, XRD.