Impact assessment of fly ash on ground water quality: An experimental study using batch leaching tests

Abstract

The fly ash, generated at the coal-based thermal power plant, is always a cause of concern to environmentalists owing to its adverse impact on air, water and land. There exists a high environmental risk when it is disposed to the environment. Thus, two different type of fly ash samples (FA-1 and FA-2) have been considered in this study to examine the leaching potential of the elements magnesium, aluminium, silicon, calcium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, arsenic, selenium, strontium, cadmium, barium and lead for different types of leachant. Toxicity characteristics leaching procedure and ASTM tests have been performed in the laboratory to simulate different natural leaching scenarios. Characterisation of samples have been done through X-ray diffraction and field emission gun scanning electron microscope. The effect of different liquid to solid ratios (i.e. 5, 10, 20 and 50) on the mobilisation of elements has been analysed. The results indicated that the maximum leaching of all elements occurred at a liquid to solid ratio of 5 except for arsenic, barium and silicon. The groundwater analysis has also been done to understand the actual effects of leachate. The elements presenting the highest leachability in the two fly ash samples under all tested conditions were magnesium, aluminium, silicon and calcium. It has been observed that calcium exhibits greater leaching effects than all other constituents. The study presented here has been found very useful for assessing contamination levels in groundwater owing to leaching effects of fly ash under different scenarios, which can be helpful to prevent spreading of the contaminants by efficient management of fly ash.

Environmental risk assessment related to using resource recovery-based bio-composite materials in the aquatic environment with new laboratory leaching test data

“…This discrepancy in styrene leachate concentration could possibly be attributed to the freshness of the materials, knowing that styrene is a volatile organic compound. These observed results are in line with the findings of Dandautiya et al ( 2018 ), that in their study analysed a fresh and a weathered sample 30 days after its disposal of fly ash. The aged material was not representative of the long-term effects (weathered of 30 days) who observed a lower leaching in the weathered samples compared to the fresh samples even if the authors analysed a short-time age difference such as 30 days.…”

AI Based Model for Prediction of Heavy Metals Using Physio-Chemical Characterization of Agricultural Waste Ashes

“…The detection of heavy metals and leaching concentration [91] of AWAs was determined by AAS apparatus after digestion process. The leachate concentration of heavy metals impact on ground drinking water [92]. The leaching concentration of heavy metals according to Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PAK-EPA) [93], Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cr should be less than and equal to 5 mg/l, ≤ 0.05 mg/l, ≤ 0.02 mg/l, and ≤ 0.05 mg/l which also defines in World Health Organization (WHO) 3 mg/l, 0.01 mg/l, 0.02 mg/l, and 0.05 mg/l and for about EUR standards 2 mg/l, 0.5 mg/l, 0.4 mg/l, and 0.6 mg/l respectively.…”

Social impact analysis on environmental conflict dynamics at coal fired steam power plant

“…Another argument states that ecological degradation as the leading cause of the conflict is being questioned because it is just a driving force and justification of political interests (Barnett, 2000). Despite this, studies on the consequence of coal-fired power plants have resulted in the pollution explaining that the construction and operation of power plants produce waste can pollute the environment such as air pollution, solid waste, and water pollution (Dandautiya et al, 2018;Islam & Al-Amin 2019;Mulya, 2015).…”

“…Thus, the treatment of its waste disposal and treatment is slightly different and quite difficult compared to other waste. The impact on the environment based on the results of research from the literature review shows that this waste has a high level of contamination in water (Dandautiya et al, 2018). Even with notes, this can be different in each location because it depends on the waste management system and the existing environmental conditions.…”