|
(39-08) Zeolite production from chemical and power plant furnace waste: A practical approach to environmental clean up in Poland. Suchecki, Tomasz*,1, Walek, Tomasz1, Banasik, Marek1,2, Stedeford, Todd1,2, 1 Institute of Environmental Engineering, Zabrze, Poland2 Laboratory of Molecular Clinical Chemistry, Uji, Japan ABSTRACT- Polish chemical and power plants produce nearly 13 million tons of fly ash and slag annually that are disposed of in open-air dumpsites. The constituents of these wastes inevitably become air, water, and soil contaminants. This study focused at identifying a practical method of recycling these waste products to zeolites, naturally occurring compounds that are routinely used in agriculture, aquaculture, and water treatment. For this purpose, fly ash samples were collected from a dust chamber of an electrostatic precipitator from the 6th boiler in the Lagisza Power Plant, Bedzin, Poland. Contaminants in the fly ash were removed using one of the following pre-treatment procedures: fractional size grading, magnetic separation, or re-burning. Zeolite synthesis was carried out in a mixture of 1 to 3 N NaOH and 50 to 200g/cm3 of the pre-treated fly ash at 60 to 100 C for 1hour to 7 days or at ambient temperature for up to 3 months. The zeolite products were either washed with distilled water (1-6 times) or processed without washing. The samples were dried at 100 and 170 C for either 6 or 12 hours at each temperature. Over 400 samples of zeolites were obtained, and the kinetics of SO2 adsorption was determined for each to identify the most efficient pre-treatment process. Our results show that up to 11 mg of SO2 can be adsorbed per gram of a fixed bed zeolite when fly ash samples are pre-treated by fractional size grading or magnetic separation. These results indicate that zeolite synthesis from fly ash obtained from chemical and power plants may be an efficient way of reducing the environmental burden of these waste products. Key words: Zeolites, Fly ash, Environmental clean up |
