Abstract
Increasing the percentage of recycling of various industrial waste is an important step towards caring for the environment. Coal ash is one of the most large-tonnage wastes, which is formed as a result of the operation of thermal power plants. The aim of this work is to develop a technology for the complex processing of coal ash. The tasks to achieve this aim are to develop a technology for the complex enrichment and separation of coal ash into components, with the possibility of their use in various applications, in particular: processing the aluminosilicate part as a pozzolanic additive to cement; carbon underburning for fuel briquettes; the iron-containing part for metallurgy and fertilizers. Complex enrichment and separation into components of coal ash were carried out according to the author’s technology, which includes six stages: disintegration, flotation, two-stage magnetic separation, grinding, and drying. The aluminosilicate component has a fairly constant granulometric composition with a mode of 13.56 μm, a specific surface area of 1597.2 m
2
/kg, and a bulk density of 900 kg/m
3
. The compressive strength for seven and twenty-eight daily samples when Portland cement is replaced by 15% with an aluminosilicate additive, increases to 30–35%. According to the developed technology, high-calorie fuel briquettes are obtained from underburnt with a density of 1000–1200 kg/m
3
, a calorific value of 19.5–20 MJ/kg, and an ash content of 0.5–1.5%. The iron-containing component, recovered by two-stage magnetic separation, has the potential to be used in metallurgy as a coking additive, in particular for the production of iron and steel. In addition, an effective micro-fertilizer was obtained from the iron-containing component, which: is an excellent source of minerals; improves the quality of acidic soil; helps soil microorganisms decompose organic matter faster, turning it into elements available to plants; promotes rooting of seedlings; helps to more effectively deal with many pests and diseases. As a result, the complete utilization of coal ash in various applications has been achieved.