A STUDY ON ACTIVATION OF FLYASH GENERATED THROUGH LIGNITE

BASED COAL IN CAPTIVE POWER PLANT

Jai Prakash Vrati ,Anupam Agrawal, Rajesh Kothari, Chanchal Kumar,

Ambuja Cements Ltd., Rabriyawas

Dr B N Mohapatra
Ambuja cement Ltd,Corporate Office, Mumbai.

Introduction:
Ambuja Cement, Rabriyawas unit is having two nos of AFBC (Atmospheric Fluidised Bed Combustion)
boiler of Capacity 15 and 18.7 MW where lignite based coal is used as the main fuel. The fly ash
generated from this boiler was having higher unburnt carbon and not meeting to the requirement of IS
3812(Part-1) 2013 to be used in Portland Pozzolana Cement.

AFBC (Atmospheric Fluidised Bed Combustion) boilers are basically designed for high ash indigenous
coal and not for high volatile, high moisture and low ash coal. But due to cheaply available lignite coal,
the same was proposed to be used for the generation of electricity at lowest cost. This has drastically
impacted the quality of flyash being produced during usage of lignite coal..Lignite coal is having high
volatile matters and low ash content and has a tendency to undergo complete combustion at quite lower
temperature as compared to F Grade Indigenous coal. The fly ash generated from this boiler was having
higher unburnt carbon and not meeting to the requirement of IS 3812(Part-1) 2013. Thus its usage in
manufacturing Portland Pozzolona Cement gets restricted. The disposal of this fly ash in such a huge
quantity approximately generation of 150 to 200MT every day is a big concern for the plant management.

This study deals with the findings of various trials taken to enhance the flyash quality generated at CPP.
2.0 Experimental:
2.1 Characteristics of Fly ash -1 and Fly ash-2 as per IS 3812 (part-1) 2013
Flyash -1: generated from Indigenous F- Grade coal
Flyash -2: generated from lignite coal
Weekly composite samples of Flyash 1&2 are tested as per IS 3812(Part-1) 2013 and results compared
for its suitability in Table-1.
Table-1
Chemical requirement Requirement as per IS Flyash-1 Flyash -2
3812 (part-1) 2013
LOI 5.0% by Mass, Max 3.4 to 4.8 Avg4.1% 4.8 to 6.6 Avg5.6%
Physical requirement
Blaine 320M2/kg, Min 410 to 480Avg445 475 to 578Avg514
Residue on 45 micron 34% by Mass, max 31.5 to 35.2Avg 33.8 31 to42 Avg 39.42
Lime reactivity 4.5Mpa, Min 4.8 to 6.4 Avg 5.4 4.6 to 5.2Avg 5.1

Comparative Not less than 80%as 90 to 93Avg 92% 86 to 89Avg 88%

Compressive Strength compared to plain
at 28 days mortar
Soundness by 0.8% , Max 0.1-0.15% 0.1-0.25%
autoclave

Flyash-2 generated by using lignite coal is mainly failing to qualify the LOI requirement. In most of the
cases it was observed above 5%. On an average the fineness by Blaine and residue on 45 micron IS sieve
has increased drastically in case of Flyash-2.

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2.2Characteristics of lab ground PPC produced from Fly ash -1 and Fly ash-2
PPC-1: Lab ground PPC with Flyash-1
PPC-2: Lab ground PPC with Flyash-2
PPC is made in Laboratory ball mill at constant clinker factor and at same grinding time.Chemical and
Physical properties of lab ground PPC 1& 2 is tabulated in Table-2
Table- 2
Chemical Unit of Measurement Requirement as per IS PPC -1 PPC -2
requirement 1489 (part-1) 1991
LOI % by mass, max 5.0 2.10 2.62
IR % by mass, max As per formula 23.4 19.1
SO3 % by mass, max 3.0 2.68 2.71
MgO % max mass, max 6.0 1.58 1.60
Physical Requirement
Blaine M2/kg, Min 300 414 465
Water requirement % 29.50 31.50
Compressive strength
1 Day MPa Not specified 18.2 16.9
3 Days MPa (min) 16 32.6 30.1
7 Days MPa (min) 22 41.9 37.2
28 Days MPa (min) 33 51.8 47.5

Flyash -2 showing relatively lower CCS with higher water demand

3.0Activation of Flyash:
Activation of Flyash 2 is carried out at lab scale as well commercially by adding low grade limes stone i,e
captive mines reject. The screened reject limestone from Captive mines shows high siliceous & low lime
content. Different combination of limestone rejects were added starting from 10 to 25% in lignite coal
and a stock pile is prepared for proper homogenisation. The entire fuel mix is then pulverised to pass
5mm sieve size and fired into the AFBC boilers.
Flyash -3 (with 10% mine limestone reject), Flyash -4 (with 15% mine limestone reject) and Flyash -5
(with 20% mine limestone reject) are tested for complete chemical & physical test requirements as per
relevant IS 3812(part-1) 2013. From the results it is revealed that all three sets of flyash passed in all
requirements and can be used in manufacturing the PPC.
Even in the Mineralogical study of Activated Flyash by X-ray Diffractometery shows that the Quartz
& anhydride content has improved in activated Flyash 3,4&5.Phase composition also reveals that some
new mineral phases like Hematite and Anorthite was also observed when limestone rejects were added in
lignite coal. At the same time XRD scan of Flyash 4 & 5 shows that there is no significant change in their
mineral phases. Thus it is also expected that there will not be much improvement in the reactivity of
flyash when limestone rejects were added above 15%. XRD scan of Flyash 2 & Flyash -4 are displayed
below as Fig-3 & Fig-4 respectively.

Fig-3 (XRD Scan for Flyash-2) Fig-4 (XRD Scan for Flyash-4)

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 4.0 – Lab ground PPC with activated Flyash:
PPC-3: Lab ground PPC with activated Flyash-3
PPC-4: Lab ground PPC with activated Flyash-4
Based on the Chemical, Physical composition and mineral phase estimation by XRD flyash 3 &4 are
used for preparing laboratory ground PPC in laboratory ball mill and known to be PPC-3 & PPC-
4cement respectively. Test results as per IS 1489 (Part-1)1991 is tabulated below in Table –3
Table- 3
Physical Test Unit of Requirement as per IS PPC-3 PPC-4
requirements Measurement 1489 (part-1) 1991
Blaine M2/kg, Min 320 456 450
Water requirement % 29.50 29.25
Compressive strength
1 Day Mpa Not specified 17.9 21.8
3 Days Mpa 16 30.8 32.5
7 Days Mpa 22 39.1 40.9
28 Days Mpa 33 51.1 51.6

Above laboratory scale & commercial trails at CPP indicates that the low cost flyash (based on lignite
coal) can also be activated further to meet the relevant IS requirements and further can be consumed in
the PPC production. Overall strength indicators of PPC produced in lab reveal that both PPC-3& PPC -4
has shown appreciable improvement.
Results and Discussion
The chemical and physical properties of Fly ash generated with indigenous coal, lignite based fly ash and
with lignite mixed mines reject limestone have been reported. Mineralogical study also confirms that
after addition of high siliceous limestone rejects improved the reactivity of fly ash by generating alpha
Quartz, Mullite, Anhydrite with Anorthite and Haematite. On the basis of mineralogical phases, it is
concluded that 15% addition of limestone rejects is the optimum to get the maximum reactive phases.
Conclusion:
• On the basis of above study addition of 15% limestone reject with lignite coal is found optimised to
give higher reactivity level on the basis of performance in PPC.
• Daily generation of 150 to 200 tonne of activated flyash is completely utilised mixed with other
sources of fly ash in Rabriyawas plant for manufacturing of PPC
• The cost of activated flyash is relatively lower from the other source flyash.
• This flyash is used in controlled manner with other source of fly ash in order to make consistent
product.
The above R&D work has been used for plant scale productivity which reduced the manufacturing cost of
PPC and meeting to the shortfall quantity and complete disposal of this activated fly ash helped in better
environment

References:
1. Guanghongsheng,jianpingzhai Qin Li,Feihu Li - Utilisation of fly ash coming from CFBC boiler co-
firing coal and petroleum coke in portland cement-Science Direct,Fuel 86(2007) 2625-2631
2. Henry Reid et.al- Anhydrite as a substitute for gypsum in portland cement- world cement April- 1997
3. TzouvalasG,Dermatas N, Tsimas S -"Alternative calcium sulfate bearing materials as cement retarders
part-1 Anhydrite " Cement and Concrete Research 2004,34:2113-8
4. R.E Conn and K. Sellakumar& A.E Bland-" Utilisation of CFBC Fly ash for construction
Application" paper No FBC 99-0144 Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Fluidised
Bed Combustion ,May, 16-19,199,Savannah,Georgi
5. G.Goswami,B.N Mohapatra and J.D Panda-'\" Gypsum dehydration during communition and its effect
on cement properties"- Journal of American Ceramic Society 73(3)721-23(1990)

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