A Study of Ferrospheres in the Coal Fly Ash

Coal fly ash is an industrial by-product, produced from coal combustion in thermal power plants. It is the most complex anthropogenic materials, which consists of combination of minerals originated from different sources. Coal fly ash and its byproduct has become an environmental concern over the World. Therefore, there is a pressing and ongoing need to investigate the structures and some properties of coal fly ash and develop new recycling methods for it. The amount of silica, aluminum, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, titanium and phosphorus oxides contained in power plant fly ash was determined by X-ray flouresecence (XRF) analysis. Concentration of heavy metals in fly ash was in sequence of Pb > Zn > Cu > Cr > Ni. As results of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), except for porous and hollow particles, large and small microspheres were observed. These particles are classified as ferrospheres. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis show that fly ash consists of the following crystal phases: quartz, albite, anorthite and hematite.