• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2014

Feasibility of utilizing unburned carbon residue in coal ash as a potential precursor for the production of activated carbon was assessed to seek for solution to recycle unburned carbon residue. The unburned carbon concentrate generated from the 4 stages of cleaner flotation has a grade of 87% carbon. The crystalline impurities in the concentrate included quartz and mullite. Unburned carbon had a low specific surface area of $10m^2/g$, which might be related to a high degree of coalification of domestic anthracite coal. Carbon particles were mostly porous and have a turbostratic structure. When 1g of carbon was activated with 6g of KOH powder, the highest specific surface area value of $670m^2/g$ was achieved. Low wettability of unburned carbon particles, which was resulted from high temperature combustion in a boiler, might cause poor pore formation when they were activated by KOH solution. The activated carbon produced in this study developed micropores, with an equivalent quality of general-purpose activated carbon made from coal. Hence, it is concluded that chemically treated unburned carbon can be used for water purification or an alternative to carbon black as it is.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.510-516
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• 2013

Fly ash is one of the aluminosilicate sources used for the synthesis of geopolymers. The particle size distribution of fly ash and the content of unburned carbon residue are known to affect the compressive strength of geopolymers. In this study, the effects of particle size and unburned carbon content of fly ash on the compressive strength of geopolymers have been studied over a compositional range in geopolymer gels. Unburned carbon was effectively separated in the $-46{\mu}m$ fraction using an air classifier and the fixed carbon content declined from 3.04 wt% to 0.06 wt%. The mean particle size ($d_{50}$) decreased from $22.17{\mu}m$ to $10.79{\mu}m$. Size separation of fly ash by air classification resulted in reduced particle size and carbon residue content with a collateral increase in reactivity with alkali activators. Geopolymers produced from carbon-free ash, which was separated by air classification, developed up to 50 % higher compressive strength compared to geopolymers synthesized from raw ash. It was presumed that porous carbon particles hinder geopolymerization by trapping vitreous spheres in the pores of carbon particles and allowing them to remain intact in spite of alkaline attack. The microstructure of the geopolymers did not vary considerably with compressive strength, but the highest connectivity of the geopolymer gel network was achieved when the Si/Al ratio of the geopolymer gel was 5.0.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.89-96
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• 2015

Recently, much research has been put into finding the causes and solutions of slagging/fouling problems that occur at the end of the boiler. This slagging/fouling, caused by low-rank coal's ash, disturbs the thermal power and greatly reduces efficiency. In environmental aspects, such as NOx pollution, governments have been implementing restrictions on the quantity of emission gases that can be released into the atmosphere. To solve these problems, research on Ash Free Coal (AFC), which eliminates ash from low-rank coal, is in progress. AFC has advantages over similar high-rank coals because it increases the heating value of the low grade coal, reduces the contaminants that are emitted, and decreases slagging/fouling problems. In this study, using a DTF, the changes of NOx emissions, unburned carbon, and the characteristics of ash deposition were identified. KCH raw coal, AFC extracted from KCH, residue coal, Glencore, and Mixed Coal (Glencore 85wt% and residue coal 15wt%) were studied. Results showed that AFC had a significantly lower emission of NOx compared to that of the raw coal and residue coal. Also, the residue coal showed a higher reactivity compared to raw coal. And finally, In the case of the residue coal and mixed coal, they showed a lower ash deposition than that of low-rank coal.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2020

All coal ash, generated from coal-fired power plants, is entirely dumped onto a landfill site. As coal ash contains 80% fly ash, a clean floating process was developed in this study to recover useful components from coal ash and to use them as high value-added industrial materials. When the unburned carbon (UC) was recovered from the fly ash, soybean oil, an eco-friendly vegetable oil, was used as collector instead of a non-ionic kerosene collector to prevent the occurrence of odor from the kerosene. After the UC was separated by flotation, particulate ceramic microsphere (CM) was recovered, without generating acidic wastewater, through hydro-cyclone instead of sulfuric acid solution in order to separate ceramic microsphere (CM) and cleaned ash (CA) from the residue. By utilizing soybean oil as a collector, the recovery rate of UC turned high at 85.8% due to the increased adsorption of UC, the high viscosity of soybean oil, and the increase in floating properties caused by the linoleic acid contained in soybean oil. All of the combustible components contained in the recovered UC were carbon components, with the carbon content registering high when soybean oil was used. The recovered UC had many pores with a rough surface; thus, it could be easily ground and then used as an industrial material for its fine particles. The CM and CA recovered by the clean separation process using hydro-cyclone had a spherical shape, and the particles were clearly separated without clumping together. The average diameter (D₅₀) of the particles was 5 ㎛, so it was possible to realize the atomization of CM through a process change.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.48-56
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• 2024

In this study, physical property evaluation and physical separation of the target product were performed to investigate the possibility of using sewage sludge gasification solid residue (GSRs) as a circulating resource. Firstly, the GSRs used in this study was supplied by Sudokwon Landfill Management Corporation, and generally the GSRs was in the form of porous pellets with a particle size of several millimetres. In addition, the partially black areas were confirmed to be unburned and ungasified carbon, and the average carbon content was 5%. In addition, the content of silica, alumina and phosphorus oxide was more than 70% of the total content. It was confirmed that the metallic components of the wet grinding product were separated into individual elements. As a physical separation of metallic and non-metallic components was required, it was finally found that flotation screening was suitable. Accordingly, cationic and anionic surfactants were selected to separate metallic components in which a relatively large amount of non-metallic components were concentrated, and the separation characteristics were confirmed. As a result, it is expected that the concentration of non-metallic components such as silica, alumina and phosphorus will be easier than the separation of metallic components. Therefore, since it is possible to physically treat the gasified sludge residue, it is judged to have potential as a circular resource according to the proposed recycling method for the separated product.