Effective transportation of fly ash–water slurry
through a pipeline from its generation site, a power plant, to a storage
site by replacing commercial surfactants such as cetyl trimethyl ammonium
bromide and sodium dodecyl sulfate by a natural dispersant extracted
from Sapindus laurifolia was studied. The stability of fly ash slurry was determined from its
rheological parameters, dispersant concentration, and stabilization
mechanism. From surface tensiometric data, the critical micelle concentration
of the dispersant was obtained to be 0.017 g/cc. The stabilization
of high-concentration fly ash slurry has been studied through its
rheological behavior by variation of temperature and dispersant and
ash concentration. The rheological result obtained for fly ash concentrations
in the range of 50–65% slurry was best justified by the Bingham
plastic model. The wettability of fly ash particles is increased in
the presence of dispersants, which is inferred from reduction of the
surface tension value. The stabilization mechanism of the slurry is
explained by a steric factor as indicated by the decrease in the zeta
potential value. Air pollution is minimized at its destination site
due to agglomeration of fly ash particles, which is confirmed from
the SEM microphotograph.