Investigation of the possibility of binding fly ash particles by elemental sulphur

Abstract

Thermal power plants in Serbia use lignite for electrical power production The secondary product of coal combustion is fly ash in the amount of 17%. Fly ash causes the pollution of air, water and soil, and also cause many human, especially lung diseases. Secondary sulphur is a product of crude oil refining. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of sulphur as a bonding material in ultra fine particle agglomeration (smaller than 63 μm) in fly ash. The agglomeration should make the ash particles larger and heavy enough to fall without flying fractions. The experiments showed that during the homogenization of the ashes and sulphur from 150 to 170 °C in a reactor with intensive mixing, an amount of 15% sulphur was sufficient to bond particles and cause agglomeration without visible flying fractions.

Keywords

• thermal power plants
• fly ash
• sulphur
• agglomeration