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Leaching characteristics of metals in fly ash from coal-fired power plant by sequential extraction procedure

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Abstract

A modified sequential extraction procedure was developed and applied to characterize the species of metals in fly ash. Two fly ash samples were collected from a coal-fired thermal power plant located in the north of China. A sample was collected from the conventional pulverized coal (PC) combustor and another from the circulating fluidized bed (CFB) combustor. After extraction by the proposed sequential extraction procedure, the elements in the fly ash samples were divided into a water-extractable fraction (F1), an acid-soluble fraction (F2), a reducible fraction (F3), an oxidizable fraction (F4) and a residual fraction (F5). Except for Cu, V, Cd in the PC sample and V, Zn in the CFB sample, most of the other metals were present in the residual fraction (F5), which was very difficult to release into the environment. The fraction distribution patterns in the two samples were also compared. The results indicated that the distribution of metals in different fractions in fly ash samples were probably impacted by different combustion processes.

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Acknowledgement

This study was kindly co-funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (2008CB417201) and research funding from North China Electric Power University. The author appreciates Dr. Gui-bin Jiang’s research group (State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for performing the sample analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science & Engineering, North China Electric Power University, No. 619 Yonghuabei Street, Baoding, 071003, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China

    Chun-Gang Yuan

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  1. Chun-Gang Yuan
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Correspondence to Chun-Gang Yuan.

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Yuan, CG. Leaching characteristics of metals in fly ash from coal-fired power plant by sequential extraction procedure. Microchim Acta 165, 91–96 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-008-0103-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-008-0103-5

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