Coal ash utilization in building and agricultural applications

Abstract

The increasing cause of disposal of coal ash in terms of environmental pollution stresses the urgent need to find its potential uses. In order to use coal ash fruitfully, various experiments have been carried out at RRL, Bhopal in making concrete block, brick, door shutters, etc. But these hardly consume about 5% of the total quantum of ash produced annually in India.Therefore, attempts have been made to utilise the coal ash in bulk quantity for conditioning wasteland, to increase its fertility Coal ash is basically an amorphous ferro-alumino silicate, which is also characteristically high in Ca'+ Mg++ Na' and K+. The impact of coal ash in agriculture and in building application depends on various physico-chemical properties for which multi -disciplinary experiments have been conducted at lab scale in RRL, Bhopal and optimized the process details for pilot scale demonstration. This paper deals with the use of coal ash in agriculture and the process of making construction materials and its properties. Crops, vegetables and cereals had grown and were found that the crop yield increased by coal ash application and there was no toxicity. Coal ashes have been used as filler and natural fibre jute as reinforcement in making polymer composite,which can be used as wood substitute materials. Coal ash addition increased the dimensional stability; hardness, durability, and wear resistance.