Comparative performance evaluation of coal combustion products in industrial wastewater treatment

Yibo Chen and Sanjay Tewari Department: Civil Engineering of Louisiana Tech University, P.O. Box 10348, Ruston, LA 71272-0046 Ruston, Louisiana, 71270.Email Address: ych017@latech.edu; stewari@latech.edu.

Utilizing waste products from one industry to treat industrial wastewater is environment friendly and economical. Fly ash is a carbon waste from coal-fired power plants. It is being produced at an increasingly higher rate with development of numerous coal-burning power plants. Disposal of fly ash has been a big problem. Most of the studies focus on utilizing specific fly ash for removal of cations, anions, organics, and dyes. This poster will present a summary of current state of knowledge and my future direction of research. Fly ashes from different sources have different chemical compositions resulting in different adsorption behavior and pollutant removal efficiency. A comprehensive investigation is needed to find suitable fly ash to treat specific kind of wastewater. The main goal of this project is to investigate and compare adsorption capacities of different types of fly ashes in treating wastewater from local industries. Adsorption behavior of fly ash will be investigated in batch and column reactor. Specific focus will be on removal of harmful metal ions. If successful, results from this study could help us move towards a more sustainable future where the waste of one local industry is being used to treat waste(water) from another industry.