Physical and Chemical Characterization of Fly-Ash and Overburden Soil for Metal Recovery

Abstract

Large amount of overburden soil and fly-ash produced from mines, thermal power plants pose huge concern for country due to its detrimental environmental impact. Ash and overburden soil generated from different mines are frequently utilized as geo-material where its spontaneous behaviour and characteristics is necessary. Fly-ash is primarily a by-product of coal mines, thermal power plants which severely affects water, air and land. Overburden soil is the soil layer which are removed during ore mining. Overburden soil usually considered as waste leading to environmental pollution and soil degradation. In this study overburden soil and fly ash collected from various mines are analysed for physical and chemical characteristics. The physical properties like specific gravity, bulk density, grain size distribution, porosity has been determined. Specific gravity of overburden soil from several mine samples ranges around 1.9- 2.7g/cm 3 . Chemical characterization of both ash and overburden soil has also been assessed. The physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of fly ash and combined with its readily availability make this an appealing raw material for several applications. With an aim to explore the potential use of fly ash and overburden soil, it is necessary to observe its characteristic properties. This study also highlights the characterization of fly ash and overburden soil by various techniques, including fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and strive to correlate the same with its potential applications. XRF analysis indicate the presence of SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 and Fe 2 O 3 while FTIR analysis suggest the presence of functional groups like S=O, O-H, C=O, C-F and O=C=O. Water samples collected from various mines were also tested for different physical- chemico analysis such as pH, salinity, temperature, conductivity. pH of different mine sampleslies between 6.2-6.9 while temperature varies from 27 º C-31 º C.