VSRD International Journal of Electrical, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Vol.

III Issue XI November 2013 e-ISSN : 2231-3346, p-ISSN : 2319-2232 VSRD International Journals : www.vsrdjournals.com

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RESEARCH ARTICLE

AN ANALYSIS FOR UNDERSTANDING OF UTILIZATION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF POWER PLANT WASTAGE : FLY-ASH
1Mohammad
1Research

Minhaj Jafri* and 2Pradeep Kumar

Scholar, 2Associate Professor, 1,2Department of Civil Engineering, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, INDIA. *Corresponding Author: minhajjafri@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT
Structural development in developed as well as in developing country is very fast. In the development of any structure, two criteria is most important i.e. strength and stiffness so to maintain the proper strength, cement is the most important constituent because the strength of any structure will depend upon the quality of cement which is also important due to the safety of the structure. The quality of the cement will depend upon the quality and properties of the fly ash so this work will show the importance and properties of the fly ash for producing good quality of cement. Fly ash coming from the thermal power plant is an important constituent. Due to its compressibility, fly ash behaves very much like a cohesive soil with respect to consolidation and due to age hardening or pozollanic behavior; the shear strength of the fly ash can change. Keywords : Fly ash, Structure, Cement, Power Plant, DoC.

1. INTRODUCTION The increasing demand for electrical energy has resulted in the construction of many coal fired power plants and as a result the production of power plant wastes has also increased. The economic and environmental considerations affecting the collection and disposal of power plant wastes have received much attention in recent years. Coal combustion results in a residue consisting of the inorganic mineral constituents in the coal and the organic matter which is not fully burnt. The inorganic mineral constituents, whose residue is ash, make up from 30 to 40% of the coal. During combustion this ash is distributed into two parts bottom ash (collected from the bottom of the boiler unit) and fly ash (most of which is collected by air pollution control equipment through which the stack gases pass). A third residue vapors is that part of the coal which is volatilized in the furnace. Fly ash makes up from 10 to 85% of the coal ash residue and occurs as spherical particles, usually ranging in diameter from 0.5 to 100 microns. Major constituents of fly ash are silica, alumina, iron and calcium oxide with smaller quantities of various oxides including magnesium, sodium, titanium, potassium and sulphur. Its color varies from light tan to black depending upon carbon content. 2. GRAIN-SIZEDISTRIBUTION In terms of typical soil grain-size analysis, most of ash particles fall within the silt range, with small percentages in the fine sand and clay sizes. The grain size distribution of fly ash provides considerable insight into its properties and behavior. The range of grain-size distributions for fly ash is shown in Fig. 2.1, which also indicates the relatively uniform grain-size distribution of fly ash as compared to several types of soils. Because of its spherical shape small surface areas, and uniform silt size of individual particles, fly ash has no plasticity. A more meaningful measure used to indicate the fineness of fly

ash is the Blaine Fineness. This usually ranges from 1700 cm2/gm in fly ashes from mechanical collectors to 5400 cm2/gm in fly ashes from electrostatic precipitators. Another measure of fineness is surface area, which is the product of the Blaine Fineness and specific gravity and is usually specified in terms of cm2/cm3. It is likely that the gradation and fineness are most influenced by the degree of pulverization of the coal.

Fig. 2.1: Range of Typical Fly Ash Grain Sizes 3. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION The chemical composition of fly ash depends largely on the geologic and geographic factors related to the coal deposits, the combustion conditions and the removal efficiency of air pollution control devices. Fly ash from American coals contains large quantities of silica (SiO2), alumina (AI2O3), and ferric oxide (Fe2O3), with smaller quantities of various oxides and alkalis. The oxides of Si, Al, Fe and Ca comprise 95 to 99% of the composition of ash. The average values of different chemical constituents in the Indian fly ashes fall within the range of the average values reported for fly ashes produced in other countries.

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Indian fly ashes are however, characterized by higher contents of SiO2, AI2O3 and un-burnt fuel as determined by loss on ignition (L.O.I.) and lower contents of Fe2O3 and SO3. Indian fly ashes exhibit greater variation in their composition partly due to variable quality of Indian coals and partly due to lack of standardization in collection and disposal plants. 4. FLY ASH CHARACTERISTICS Physical characteristics Specific gravity Permeability Shear strength Compressibility

depends upon its degree of compaction and the pozzolanic activity. The range of coefficient of permeability for fly ash generally varies from 1x10-4 to 5x10-4 cm/sec and from 3x10-2 to 9x10-2 cm/sec for bottom ash. Low permeabilities lessen the probability of extensive ground percolation and the consequent danger of soluble material being leached out of the fill. Low permeabilities on the other hand, also mean a higher degree of runoff; therefore precautions to prevent erosion of side slopes should be taken. Shear Strength: Fig. 2.2 shows the general range of the relationship between the angle of internal friction and dry unit weight for fly ash, It has been shown that fly ash possesses significant cohesive strength due to capillary stresses in the pore water and that the shear strength of fly ash can change significantly with time due to age hardening or pozollanic behaviour. Age hardening has been correlated to the amount of free lime present in fly ash. In some cases the strength increased as much as 5-8 fold over a 3-month period. Fly ashes which have been lagooned prior to compaction do not exhibit as much age hardening. As with fly ash, the shear strength of bottom ash varies with the degree of compaction. The angle of internal friction for bottom ash in loose condition can vary from 38 to 42.5 averaging 41. Compressibility: Fly ash behaves very much like a cohesive soil with respect to consolidation. Laboratory test results have indicated that compaction can significantly reduce the compressibility of fly ash. This pozzolanic behaviour tends to limit the extent of actual field settlement in the long run. Partial saturation also accounts for a considerable difference in compressibility behaviour. The field evidence to data suggests that compressibility or settlement is not a significant problem in compacted fly ash. 5. EFFECTOFLIMEANDCEMENTSTABILIZ ATION The addition of few percent of hydrated lime (up to 10% by weight) increased the compressive strength of the compacted fly ashes more than 10-fold after one month of moist curing at 20C. The effect of pozzolanic activity for age hardening on fly ash compressibility is much more evident in the case of fly ashes which have been mixed with lime before compaction. Increase in the time of curing before testing decreases settlement. Lime or cement treatment also decreases the permeability of compacted fly ash. 6. COMPACTION BEHAVIOUR The moisture density relationship for fly ash is similar to that for cohesive soils. That is, for a given compactive effort the dry density increases with increasing moisture content to a point of maximum dry density. The compacted dry densities of fly ash are commonly found to be in the range of 1100-1520 kg/m3 and depend on the method of its determination. Hopper and silo fly ashes

Physical Characteristics: The ash residue resulting from the combustions of coal is primarily derived from the inorganic mineral matter in the coal. Different types of coal produce different quantities of ash, depending upon the concentration of mineral matter in the type of coal. Generally, ash makes up from 3 to 30% of the coal. For the majority of elements found in coal, most or their quantity (95% or more) will be found in the ash fractions while the reminder (5% or less) will be discharged into the atmosphere. The quantity of vapours produced depends primarily on the temperature history of the combustion gases and the concentrations and properties of the various elements in the coal. Fly ash is comprised of very fine particles, the majority of which are glassy spheres, and rest of which are crystalline matter and carbon. The ash varies in size as they are discharged from the furnace from less than to 4 cm. in diameter. Fine spherical particles generally vary in diameter from 0.5 to 100 . This fraction spans a color range of light tan to gray to black. Increased carbon content causes a darkergrey-black tone, while increased iron content tends to produces a tan-colored ash. The pH of fly ash contacted with water varies from 3 to 12.Cenospheres, the very light weight, particles that float on ash pond surfaces, are an interesting fraction of the fly ash. These are silicate glass spheres filled with nitrogen and carbon dioxide which vary from 20 to 200 in diameter. Particle density ranges from 0.4 gm/cc to 0.8 gm/cc. These particles may comprise as much as 5% by weight or 20% by volume of the fly ash. Specific Gravity: Specific gravity is frequently determined in analyzing fly ash for chemical properties and for use as on additive in concrete. Fly ash is characterized by low specific gravity, uniform gradation and lack of plasticity. The specific gravity of fly ash particles varies with chemical composition and generally varies from about 2.1 to 2.6 with an average of about 2.4. Therefore fly ash fills tend to be less dense than those constructed of natural soils. The reduction in density can be an advantage in some applications where fly ash is used as a structural fill. One explanation for low specific gravity is the fact that a high proportion of fly ash particles are chemosphere or hollow particles. Permeability: The coefficient of permeability of fly ash

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tend to have sharp, well defined points of maximum dry density and optimum moisture content, with rapid decline in density values, on either side of optimum moisture content. Fly ash which has been exposed to large quantities of moisture, such as lagoon ashes, tend to have flatter moisture density curves with little change in dry density occurring over a broad range of moisture contents. Maximum dry densities of lagoon ashes tend to be lower and occur at higher moisture contents than those for hopper and silo fly ashes. Stock piled fly ashes tend to have intermediate values of maximum dry density. While the dry density and compaction behaviour is of interest in testing and quality control, the wet density is needed in conceptual design of fly ash fills. Calculation of settlement and slope stability are all determined using wet density values. 7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION This work shows that fly ash coming from the thermal power plant is an important constituent due to its properties like compressibility, physical characteristics, shear strength, permeability. Due to its compressibility, fly ash behaves very much like a cohesive soil with respect to consolidation and due to age hardening or pozollanic behavior; the shear strength of the fly ash can change. In the pore water, fly ash possesses significant cohesive strength due to capillary stresses. The coefficient of permeability of fly ash depends upon its degree of compaction and the pozzolanic activity. Fly ash is characterized by low specific gravity, uniform gradation and lack of plasticity. 8. CONCLUSION Study of fly ash properties shows that the values of most of the parameters investigated and reviewed through literature, fall within a relatively narrow range of values. The principal chemical constituents are silica, alumina and iron oxide with smaller amounts of calcium, magnesium, sulphur and titanium. Fly ash falls within the silt range with small percentage in the fine sand. 9. REFERENCES
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Vol.40 pp.1445-1451. [6] Dr. V.N.S. Murthy, (2003), Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering Vol.5, pp. 240-302. [7] Dr. K.R. Arora, (2003), Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering Vol.6, pp. 440-477. [8] McLaren, R.J. and A.M. Digioia, (1987), The typical engineering properties of fly ash, Geotechnical practice for waste disposal, Vol.13, pp.87. [9] Dayal U., (1987), Design of fly ash disposal facility, Indian Geotechnical Conference, Vol. 1, pp. 87. [10] Digioia, Jr., A.M., J.F., Meyers, and J.E. Niece, (1977), Design and construction of fly ash disposal sites, Geotechnical Practice for Disposal of Solid Waste Materials.

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