skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Utilization of fly ash in structural and decorative ceramic products

Journal Article · · Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry
OSTI ID:430289
; ;  [1]
  1. Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, IL (United States); and others

The main objective of this study is to promote the use of fly ash from electric power plants in Illinois in the manufacture of bricks. Fly ash that is produced during the burning of coal represents a continuing disposal problem and thus a disincentive to coal`s use. Each year, approximately 5 X 10{sup 6} metric tons of fly ash are produced from burning Illinois coals. Use of brick clays for ceramic products in the Illinois area amounted to about 0.5 X 10{sup 6} metric tons in 1994. If significant amounts of fly ash were used in the manufacture of fired-clay products such as brick, the fly ash disposal problem would be reduced, a valuable construction product would be created, and mining of brick clays would be slowed. Furthermore, the clay minerals in the green bricks are dehydroxylated during the firing process. Fly ash already has been through dehydrox1yation, therefore this energy for dehydroxylation is {open_quotes}saved{close_quotes} during brick manufacture. Six tasks were defined to meet our objectives: (1) manufacture bricks that contain 20 wt% or more of fly ash under normal plant-scale conditions; (2) measure the firing characteristics of mixtures created by using extremes in chemical composition of Illinois fly ashes and brick clays and shales; (3) from those measurements, derive equations that predict the firing characteristics of any mixture of clay and fly ash; (4) optimize mixtures of brick clays with sources of fly ash near existing ceramic plants; (5) perform tests to determine the leachability of toxic constituents, if any, from the bricks; and (6) integrate the results of tasks 1 and 2 with preliminary engineering and market assessments to evaluate the feasibility of large-scale use of fly ash in fired-clay products.

OSTI ID:
430289
Report Number(s):
CONF-960376-; ISSN 0569-3772; TRN: 97:000004-0017
Journal Information:
Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry, Vol. 41, Issue 2; Conference: Spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), New Orleans, LA (United States), 24-28 Mar 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English