Introduction to Fly Ash

Fly ash is a byproduct of the combustion of pulverized coal in thermal power plants.A dust-collection system removes the fly ash, as a fine particulate residue, from combustion gases before they are discharged into the atmosphere. The types and relative amounts of incombustible matter in the coal used determine the chemical composition of fly ash. More than 85% of most fly ashes is comprised of chemical compounds and glasses formed from the elements silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, and magnesium. Generally, fly ash from the combustion of subbituminous coals contains more calcium and less iron than fly ash from bituminous coal; also, fly ash from subbituminous coals contains very little unburned carbon. Plants that operate only intermittently (peak-load stations) and that burn bituminous coals produce the largest percentage of unburned carbon. Fly-ash particles are typically spherical, ranging in diameter from <1 μm up to 150 μm.

Fly ashes exhibit pozzolanic activity. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) (ASTM, 1975) defines a pozzolan as “a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material which in itself possesses little or no cementitious value but which will, in finely divided form and in the presence of moisture, chemically react with calcium hydroxide at ordinary temperature to form compounds possessing cementitious properties.” Fly ashes contain metastable aluminosilicates that will react with calcium ions, in the presence of moisture, to form calcium silicate hydrates.

The term fly ash was first used in the electrical power industry around 1930. The first comprehensive data on the use of fly ash in concrete in North America were reported by Davis et al. (1937). The first major practical application was reported in 1948 with the publication of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s data on the use of fly ash in the construction of the Hungry Horse Dam. Worldwide acceptance of fly ash as a component of concrete slowly followed these early efforts, but interest was particularly noticeable in the wake of the rapid increases in energy costs (and hence cement costs) that occurred during the 1970s. In recent years, it has become evident that fly ashes differ in significant and definable ways that reflect their combustion and, to some extent, their origin. The ASTM recognizes two general classes of fly ash:

• Class C, normally produced from lignite or subbituminous coals
• Class F, normally produced from bituminous coals

Schematic diagram of a fossil-fuel plant

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