Effective removal of fly ash by Penicillium chrysogenum and determination of direct fly ash toxicity with Daphnia magna

Burcu Ertit Taştan

doi:10.2166/ws.2020.303

Abstract

Abstract This study demonstrates the removal of fly ash with Penicillium chrysogenum, a newly isolated species of fungus, and acute toxicity assessment with Daphnia magna. In the study, two different removal mechanisms were compared, both bio-removal and bio-sorption. Six different ash and three different biomass concentrations were used simultaneously. Although other fungal species in the literature failed at such a high concentration of fly ash, P. chrysogenum was able to tolerate it even at 10% concentration. The highest bio-removal yield was recorded as 100% at 0.5% fly ash concentration. Maximum bio-sorption yield was 95.27% after 24th hour. The evaluation results of fly ash bio-toxicity by D. magna showed that the no observed effect level (NOEL) was 0.2 mg/L and the low observed effect level (LOEL) was 0.5 mg/L. The element analysis, determined by ED-XRF, clarified that Ca, Si, Fe and S were the common elements in this ash. This is the first study in the literature where fly ash removal was carried out using P. chrysogenum for both bio-removal and bio-sorption and needs to be developed in the future.

Highlights

Fly ash is the largest byproduct of coal plants
The aim of the present study is to reveal the potential usability of P. chrysogenum at high fly ash concentrations with a low cost culture media, minimum operation time and minimum biomass concentrations
The second type of culture stage allowed the rapid transformation of fungal spores into micelles and removed the fly ash with higher yields in a shorter time (2 days)

Summary

Introduction

Fly ash is the largest byproduct of coal plants. 80% of the total coal ash is fly ash and 20% is bottom ash (Querol et al ). Fly ash is produced at 1,200–1,700 C from a variety of organic and inorganic compounds (Vassilev & Vassileva ). The geological factors and operating conditions are important parameters that affect the chemical characterization of fly ash (Siddique ). The pH of fly ash varies from 4.5 to 13.25 depending on the sulfur and CaO content of the coal (Riehl et al ). SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3 and CaO are the main components of the fly ash

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Conclusion