Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research

Vol. 59, September 2000, pp 852-855

A Case Study of Chandrapura Thermal Power Station - Leaching

Study of Trace Elements from Fly Ashes
Sanjay Kumar
DVC, Training Institute Chandrapura, Bokaro 825 303

Received: 09 May 2000; accepted 09 June 2000

Electricity generat ion has been increasing at a rapid pace du e to Indu strialization and changing life styles. Coal is th e
major source of energy, since Indi a has vast reserves o f thermal power grade coal. Nearly every naturally occurring element
is likely to be present in coal and these get entrained in the resultant bottom ash. Indian coals contain high ash co upled with
low calorific value, and consequently resulting hu ge amount of fly as h. This ash accumul ates in onsite piles and ponds,
thereby resulting in serious environment problems, particularly trace elements contamination of ground and surface waters.
This study envisages the environmental assessment of fly as h from Chandrapura Thermal Power Station . Leaching study of
fly ash is made by the analysis of leaches from open percolation leaching column experiment s over a period o f 274 d. Trace
elements were observed within the regulatory limits. Many of the trace elements evaluated viz. Cr. Ni, Co, Se, A I, As, 8 , Ba,
Sb and Hg were observed at below detection limits . Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Pb, Cd and other disso lved ions leached at significant
concentration levels, while Cu and Zn leached normally at lower concentration levels. The stud y suggests low-cost hi gh-
vo lume utilization of fly ash as fill material for reclaiming surrounding abandoned mined out areas which are
environmentally acceptable.

Introduction Fly as h is an alumi no silicate glass consist ing of the

E lectricity is an essen ti al need of any industrial
soc iety and no nation can progress without adequate
supply of power. Growth in its demand during the
past decades has been phenomenal and has
outstripped all projections. Indi a has vast reserves of
coa l and it is expected th at thi s shall remain as prime
source of energy in the early part of 2 1st century.
Presently, thermal power stations account for about
70 per cent of insta lled generation capacity of 81000
MW (ref. 1). In a pulverised coal fired thermal power
plant, about 40-55 per cent as h is produced and about
20 per cent is wasted due to gravity and is removed as
bottom as h and the remaining as fly as h. This fly ash
is co ll ected in the ash pond by hyd rau li c
transportation process in the form of slurry. Thus the
production of thi s waste is increasing continuously.
The problem of disposa l and utilization of fly ashes
has drawn considerable concern and atten ti on of
researchers of environmental groups, government and
regulators.
oxides of Si, AI , Fe and Ca wit h minor amounts of
Mg, Na, K, Zn and S and various trace e lements. The
concentrati on assoc iated with the ash may e ither be
adsorbed on the surface of particle or incorporated
into matrix. A mechanism that appears to be common
for all ashes during their formation is the
condensation of metal and metallo id vapours on
refractory core materials . As the particles and gas
steam exist from the combustion chamber and
2
proceed upto the gas , this results in loca ll y hi gher
concentrati ons of many trace elements at the surface
of as h particles and accou nts for the generally higher
concentration of these elements as particle size
3
decreases . The associat ion between trace elements
and major elements, i.e., mineral s may be an
important factor m determining the leachate
composition of water in contact with ashes . It is
recognized that the health hazards and environmental
impacts from coal-fired therma l power station s result
from the mobilization of toxic elements from as h. A
large amoun t of ash that accumulates at thermal
 SANJAY KUMAR : CASE STUDY OF CHANDRAPURA THERM AL POWER STATIO
power pl ants, its poss ible reuse and the di spersion and
mobilization of toxi c ele ments from it, requires
greater atte ntion . Mobilization of vari ous ele ments
from the ash into the e nvironment de pe nds on c limate,
so ils, indigenous vegetation , and agri cultural
4 throu gh thi s tubing into 250 ml pol ypropy le ne
practices . Environmental c haracte ri zati on studi es
with respect to anal ys is of trace e le me nts o f fly as h
from Chandrapura The rmal Power Station are
presented he re.
Study Area
The C ha ndrapura Th e rma l power Stati on (C
TPS) o f Damodar V all ey Corporati on (DV C) is
situ ated in Bokaro di stri c t of Bihar State covering a n
area of 750 ha of la nd . It is bounded by the Damoda r
ri ver on the south , Pokhari a Null a h on the eas t and
hill s on th e north and west.
Experimental Procedure
The as hes co ll ected/sampl ed we re analyzed fo r
the ir leaching c haracteri sti cs, using ope n co lumn
tec hnique. Th e co lumns of the fl y as hes were pac ked
on April 1996 and leachates we re co llected s ixty fi ve-
times in a time peri od of about 274 d. up to Febru a ry
1997. Everytime the leac hates we re a na lyzed for trace
ele ments . Stand ard leachin g analys is methods were
fo ll owed in thi s leac hing stud y of fl y as h. These are
bri efl y described be low.
Sampling
F ly as h sampl es fro m C handrapura The rmal
Power Stati on were co ll ected on diffe re nt days and a
fin al homogeni sed sampl e was pre pared w hile
approprite ly mi x in g vari ous porti ons.
Leaching Chemistry
Ope n co lumn pe rco lation leac hing ex perime nts
we re carri ed out on the fl y as h sa mpl e to ascertain its
leac hate c he mi stry, as desc ribed subseque ntl y.
Open Percolation Column Experiment
In thi s ex pe rime nt , de ioni zed wate r was
perco lated through a pac ked co lumn in the presence
of oxygen at a rate depe nding on th e natura l
853
permeability of the mate ri al. The open columns for
leaching expe rime nts were made of PVC pipe 4 in in
di am and 2 ft. in le ngth . The top e nd of the co lumn
was e xposed to the atmosphere and the fly e nd was
connec ted to 111 in . tubing. The leac hate was collected
beakers.
Elemental Analysis ofL eachates
The leach ate samples we re filte red a nd ac idifi ed
with 2 ml of nitric ac id and the n preserved in
po lypropyle ne samplin g bottles . Th e sampl es we re
kept in a refri gerator until furthe r a nalys is. Sod ium
and potass ium we re de te rmin ed usin g Systroni cs
fl a me ph otomete r. Concentrati on leve ls of trace
e le me nts we re e valuated using Ato mi c Absorpti on
Spec troph otomete r (AAS) GBC-902. W orking/
sta ndards so luti ons we re pre pared , accordin g to
instruction s given in the o pe rati on ma nu al of the
GBC-902 AAS .
Results and Discussion
Anylys is o f twe ntytwo e le me nts we re ca rr ied
out eac h time and the observati ons a re summari sed in
Tabl e I. It is observed th at the concentrati on of
thirteen e le ment s name ly c hromium , ni cke l, cobalt,
cadmium , se le nium, aluminum, sil ver, arse ni c, boron,
ba rium, vanadium , antimony and mo lybde num we re
be low the detecti on limit (.001 mg/1 ) durin g the study.
A mong othe r nine e le ments, onl y ca lc ium and
magnes ium were observed in the leachates trh oghout
the study, whil e the concentrati on of othe r e le men ts
showed a dec reas ing trend to BDL. A co mpari son of
the co ncentrati on of the nin e e le me nts in th e leac hates
with the pe rmi ss ible limits, as pe r IS: 2490 and
IS : 10500, given in Tabl e 2, indicates th at the
concentrati on of all the e leme nts during the entire
study was below the pe rmi ss ibl e limits. The tox icity
of bottom as h w ith respect to e le me nts, as observed,
was within manageabl e limits. It can be infe rred that
no s ignifi cant leaching occurs and tox ic ity is
manageabl e with respecr to trace e le ments in the
leachates. Ope n co lumn leaching ex perime nts may be
used for predi cting the long-te rm leachin g be haviour
th at can be observed in the fi e ld . F ly as h leac hates , as
gene rated from open pe rco lati on co lumn leaching
ex pe rime nts, do not pose any signi ficant
854 J SCI IND RES VOL 59 OCTOBER 2000

Table I - Summary of leachate analysis of fly as hes Open column lechate experiments

Elements FA# I FA#2

Range Average Range Average

Iron BDL-2.92 2.88 BDL-3 . 12 3.4

Lead BDL-.089 0.072 BDL-0.08 0.07

Calcium 10 -25 24 28-40 38

Magnesium II - 24 22 20 -32 30

Copper BDL-0.094 0.09 BDL-0.088 0.08

Zinc BDL-1.082 1.074 BDL-1.10 1.09

Manganese BDL-0.099 0.085 BDL-0.092 0.086

Sodium BDL-10 9 BDL-16 14

Potassium BDL-20 18 BDL-36 34

Chromium BDL BDL BDL BDL

Nickel

Cobalt

Cadmi um

Selenium

Aluminum

Silver

Arsenic

Boro n

Barium

Vanadium

Antimony

Molybdenum
BDL-Below Detecti ve Limits, BDL-0.00 I mg/1, Concentration in PPM

environmental impacts in the disposal system .
Overall, fly ash will not pose any environmenta l
problem during its utilization and/or di sposa l.
Conclusions
Based on the study of the leac hing of trace
elements of the ashes of CTPS , foll ow ing conc lusions
are drawn :
(i) In the study period of about 274 d, there was
practically no leaching of thirteen elements
namely chromi um , selenium, aluminum,
silver, arsenic, boron, barium, vanadium,
antimony and molybdenum from a ll the fl y
ash samples.
(ii) Out of lhe nme elemen ts found in the
leachates, only calcium and magnesium were
found to be leaching in the entire period . The
other seven elements namely iron, lead,
copper, zinc, manganese, sodium and
potass iu m leaching was sometimes
intermittent. The leachi ng of sodium and
potass ium practically stopped after 35 and 40
d respective ly.
(iii) The concentration of the e lements in the
leachates was invariabl y we ll below the
permiss ible limits for di scharge of effluents
as per IS:2490 and also fo r drinking water as
per IS : 10500.
 SANJA Y KUMAR : CASE STUDY OF CHANDRAPURA THERM AL POWER STATION 855

Table 2 - Comparison of elemental analysis of sampl es with permissible limits.

Leachate Elements Observed ran ge Discharge in inl and Permissible limits

samples surface water On land for irrgati on Drinking water
IS: 2490 IS : I 0500
FA# I Iron BDL-2.92
Lead BDL-.089 0.1 0.1
Calcium 10-25 75
Magnesium I 1-24 30
Copper BDL-.094 3 0.05
Zinc BDL-1 .082 5
Manganese BDL-.099 0. 1
Sodium BDL-10 60
Potassium BDL-20
FA#2 Iron BDL-3. 12
Lead BDL-.08 0.1 0. 1
Calcium 24-40 75
Magnesium 20-32 30
Copper BDL- .88 3 0.05
Zinc BDL-1.1 5
Magnese BDL- .092 0. 1
Sodium BDL-16 60
Potass ium BDL-36
BDL-Below Detecti ve Limits , BDL-0.00 1 mg/1 , Concentration in PPM

Overa ll , the fly ashes eva luated in thi s study
were found to be environmentally benign and can be
engineered for their bulk utilization particularly for
mjned out areas reclamation and for so il amendment
for good vegetation .
References
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Utilization, Semin Fly Ash Utilis, 26-27 March , 1996, New
Delhi.
2 Natusch D F S, Wallace J R & Evans C A, Toxic Trace
Elements : Preferenti al Concentration in Respirab le Parti cles,
Science, 183 ( 1974) 203-204.
3 Markowski G R & Filbly R, Trace Element Concentration As
A Functi on of Particle Size in Fly Ash from a Pulverised
Coal Utility Boi ler, Environ Sci Techno /19 ( 1979) 796 .
4 Page A L, Elseewi A A & Straughan I R, Physical and
Chemical Properti es of Fly Ash from Coal Fired Power
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