Leaching of lignite ash by rain and acid rain. Final report

Technical Report · Tue Aug 25 04:00:00 EDT 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6931009· OSTI ID:6931009

Bartsch, R. A.

Samples of lignite ash were obtained from the start-up operations of the San Miguel Electric Cooperative Power Station at Jourdanton, Texas. Fly ash and bottoms ash were subjected to the conditions of a worst case analysis by refluxing with demineralized water in order to determine the maximum concentrations of hazardous inorganic pollutants which could be leached from the ash samples. The leachate was analyzed for cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, nickle, silver, and zinc. Effects of varying the pH of the leaching water upon the concentrations of these species in the leachate were also assessed. For the fly ash, the concentrations of cadmium, cobalt, lead, nickel, and silver in the fly ash leachate were lower than the detection limits of the analyticl technique at all pH values. Zinc was detectable at all pH levels studied, and copper and manganese were detected at the most acidic pH levels. Results from the bottoms ash leaching experiments were quite different from those obtained from the leaching of fly ash with regards to pH effects, total dissolved solids, and metals in the leachate. At all pH values utilized, the concentrations of cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, and silver in the bottoms ash leachate were below the detection limits of the analytical technique. Cobalt, manganese, nickel, and zinc were detected at most pH values. The results indicate that the exhaustive leaching of the fly and bottoms ash from the combustion of Texas lignite does produce concentrations of some hazardous inorganic constituents which are in the range of hundredths to tenths of a part per million.

• Research Organization: Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6931009
• Report Number(s): TENRAC/EDF-046; ON: DE83900691
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010600* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Properties & Composition
010800 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Waste Management
AEROSOL WASTES
ASHES
BROWN COAL
CADMIUM
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
COAL
COBALT
DATA
DISPERSIONS
DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLY ASH
FOSSIL FUELS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
LEACHATES
LEACHING
LEAD
LIGNITE
MATERIALS
METALS
MIXTURES
NICKEL
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
POWER PLANTS
RESIDUES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SILVER
SOLUTIONS
START-UP
TEXAS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
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WASTES
WATER
ZINC