Elemental composition of fly ash: a comparative study using nuclear and related analytical techniques / Skład pierwiastkowy popiołów lotnych: studium przypadku z wykorzystaniem metod nuklearnych i analitycznych

Abstract

Abstract:Epithermal neutron activation analysis along with ICP-OES, LA ICP-MS, and XRF were used to determine the elemental composition of coal fly ash from the Malta coal power station in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. A total of 54 major, trace and rare earth elements were obtained by the four analytical techniques. The results were compared and the discrepancies discussed to show the merits and drawbacks of each of the techniques. It was shown that the elemental content of this particular coal fly ash are of the same order as the NIST standard reference material Coal Fly Ash 1633b.

Recent advances in quantitative LA-ICP-MS analysis: challenges and solutions in the life sciences and environmental chemistry

“…A frequently applied method in combination with external calibration (i.e., CRMs and in-house standards) is signal normalization to an internal reference or internal standard [ 30 – 33 ]. This approach can be used to further improve the accuracy of the quantification results, since the influence of remaining differences between sample and standard can be minimized.…”

“…The approaches most frequently applied for the preparation of compact samples from powders include milling/grinding/sieving for sample homogenization, combined with pelletization [ 107 – 112 ], fusion to sample disks [ 29 , 107 , 113 – 115 ], or mounting/embedding [ 110 , 116 – 119 ] of the sample in a polymeric resin. In some cases, alternative approaches such as ablating standard and sample in quick succession by placing them on a rotary platform or electroplating have been reported [ 28 , 33 , 120 – 125 ].…”

“…The method was validated using NIST SRM 1573a (tomato leaves). Eze et al used LA-ICP-MS to investigate the composition of coal fly ash [ 33 ]. Fusion disks of each sample were prepared according to an automatic gas fusion procedure (Claisse M4 gas fusion instrument) with Claisse Flux as binder material.…”

The Behaviour of Rare Earth Elements from South African Coal Fly Ash during Enrichment Processes: Wet, Magnetic Separation and Zeolitisation

“…CFA is a waste by-product of coal combustion that is produced in millions of tons globally, in countries such as South Africa, USA, China, India, Australia, Greece, Japan and Poland [12,15]. Large scale CFA disposal is associated with negative environmental impacts such as soil and water pollution that has detrimental effects on agriculture and aquatic life [16][17][18]. As such, the valorisation of CFA has been the focus of much research over the years.…”

“…The utilisation of CFA in the building and construction industry has been extensively explored for the production of concrete and building materials as a relatively less expensive feedstock [19,20], as well as in the production of geo-polymers [15,21,22]. Other applications include CFA utilisation for mine back-filling, as well as agricultural remediation of soil and water treatment using modified CFA [17,23]. Another major area of research in CFA valorisation is the production of value-added, porous materials such as zeolites (i.e., zeolitisation) as well as metal extraction/recovery [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35].…”