Comprehensive analysis of thermochemical phase evolution and strategic recovery of valuable elements from high-alumina coal fly ash at different thermal conditions

Abstract

The evaluation of the application potential of high-alumina coal fly ash (HACFA) resources relies on the assessment of the phase composition and leaching behavior of valuable elements. Herein, we systematically investigated the particle size, specific surface area, and morphology of high-alumina high-temperature coal ash (HAHCA) produced under laboratory conditions at different temperatures and quantitatively analyzed phase transformations using the Rietveld method. The results revealed that the HAHCA particle size gradually increased, specific surface area gradually decreased, and pores became lesser with the increasing coal combustion temperature of high-alumina coal (HAC) from 400 °C to 1300 °C. Furthermore, HAHCA phases sequentially changed across various temperatures, its main phases at a coal combustion temperature of 400 °C included 29.8 % kaolinite, 6.9 % boehmite, and 5.4 % calcite, but the crystalline phases were the most abundant and turned into 41.2 % mullite, 13.7 % corundum, and 11.6 % plagioclase when the coal combustion temperature reached 1300 °C. Additionally, the leaching behavior of 28 major and trace valuable elements of HAHCA under acidic and alkaline conditions was investigated. Most metal elements easily leached from HAHCA under acidic conditions at coal combustion temperatures of 600 °C–800 °C: the optimal leaching efficiencies of Al, Li, K, Rb, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba were 67.64 %, 92.71 %, 76.67 %, 73.46 %, 86.74 %, 98.87 %, 98.42 %, and 61.19 %, respectively. Si, a nonmetallic element, achieved a high leaching efficiency of 48.27 % under alkaline conditions at a coal combustion temperature of 1300 °C. Interestingly, only Mo exhibited a high leaching efficiency of approximately 98 % under acidic and alkaline conditions.