CHAPTER-XII

ASH HANDLING SYSTEM

1.0

GENERAL
The following data shall be considered for the design of ash handling system:

1.1

Hourly worst coal firing rate at 100 % SGMCR condition per unit for worst coal shall be
400 T.

1.2

Ash content in worst coal considered for design shall be 34% considering that washed
coal will be available when domestic coal linkage is obtained.

1.3

Distribution of total ash produced as,

- Bottom ash : 20 %
- Fly ash

: 90 %

1.4

PLF shall be 85%

1.5

Scraper conveyor system shall be provided for bottom ash removal from bottom ash
hopper. Fly ash removal system from the various fly ash hoppers shall be two stage
pneumatic conveying system.

1.6

Fly ash conveying and bottom ash shall be in dry form in view of the present
environment regulations. Provision of disposal in dry form and lean slurry form shall be
provided for bottom ash. Provision of disposal in dry form and high concentration slurry
form shall be provided for fly ash.

1.7

The water required for slurry formation shall be met from the outlet of the Central
Monitoring basin of the Effluent Treatment Plant. However, service water shall be used
for fly ash dust conditioners, jacket cooling of air compressors, etc.

2.0

CAPACITY AND TIME CYCLE

Bottom ash removal from the bottom ash hopper shall be carried out continuously at the
rate of about

45

TPH. Similarly, the fly ash shall be evacuated by dense phase

pressure pneumatic system from the fly ash hoppers of the steam generator unit upto

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ash storage silo at a rate of 125 TPH in continuous mode and at rate of 165 TPH in
emergency mode, i.e when ash collected in eight (8) hours in various hoppers due to
non availability of ash handling system shall be cleared in six (6) hours time after the ash
handling system is restored. The number of cycles of operation in continuous mode shall
be 20 cycles per hour and in emergency mode 30 cycles per hour. Bottom ash from the
bottom ash silo shall be disposed off either in dry form or in lean concentration slurry
form in about 4 hours in a shift of 8 hours. Fly ash from the fly ash silos shall be
disposed off either in dry form or in high concentration slurry form in about 4 hours in a
shift of 8 hours.
3.0

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

3.1

The ash handling system shall include complete bottom ash (BA) evacuation system, fly
ash (FA) evacuation system, fly ash storage silos, and BA and FA disposal systems upto
the ash pond. The ash handling system shall be as per the system description and flow
diagrams enclosed.
Ash formed due to combustion of coal in the pulverised fuel steam generator (SG) shall
be collected as bottom ash in the bottom ash hopper and as fly ash in the fly ash
hoppers. The fly ash shall be collected in the economiser hoppers, air pre-heater
hoppers and electrostatic precipitator (ESP) hoppers provided along the flue gas path.

3.1.1
3.1.1.1

BOTTOM ASH (BA) HANDLING

Scraper Chain Conveyor (SCC) will be provided below the refractory lined Bottom Ash
Hopper (BAH) of each boiler. The BAH will be of dry type and will have storage capacity
of about 4 hours. Normally the bottom ash from the boiler furnace will be directly
discharged onto the submerged SCC provided below the BAH. The capacity of the SCC
will be 45 TPH.

3.1.1.2

The bottom ash discharged onto the SCC in the water trough will be quenched and fed
to single / double roll type heavy duty clinker grinders provided at the head end of SCC.
In the clinker grinders, the bottom ash will be crushed to (-) 25 mm size.

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3.1.1.3

The crushed bottom ash from the clinker grinders will be conveyed to the bottom ash silo
by belt conveyors. This system will be a continuous type of system.

3.1.1.4

The BAH gates shall be closed during the maintenance of SCC. Two (2) (1 working + 1
standby) SCCs shall be provided with long travel wheels and associated electro mechanical drives for shifting during maintenance. Long travel rails shall be provided for
the purpose.
Disposal of bottom ash from silo

3.1.1.5

There shall be one (1) No. BA silo with storage capacity of 1000 T which shall store
together BA generated in about 12 hours of operation for the three Units. Provision for
both truck disposal and lean slurry disposal system by will be made below the BA silo.
One (1) outlet below the silo for open truck unloading with rotary feeder & ash
conditioner, one (1) for closed truck unloading with rotary feeder & telescopic chute,
three (3) outlets for lean slurry disposal system and one (1) outlet for future shall be
provided. Provision of simultaneous unloading from two trucks shall be made.
When bottom ash has to be disposed off in lean slurry form from the designated outlets
below the bottom ash silo, bottom ash shall be discharged through three (3) (2 working +
1 standby) rotary feeders each of 100 TPH capacity and fed to three (3) (2 working + 1
standby) jet pumps each of 100 TPH capacity. The slurry from the jet pumps shall be
conveyed to a slurry sump from where it shall be pumped to ash disposal area by
horizontal centrifugal type slurry pumps. The capacity of the slurry pumps shall be 1000
cum/hr. There shall be two sets of slurry pumps (one (1) working + one (1) standby). The
total time required for clearing the silo shall be 4 hours in each shift of 8 hours. In the
balance four hours, flushing of lines, routine maintenance, etc. shall be carried out.

3.1.2

Fly Ash Handling

3.1.2.1 The fly ash handling system shall be designed to collect fly ash in dry form in silo using
two stage pressure type dense phase pneumatic conveying system.
FA from ESP hoppers, APH hoppers and Economiser hoppers of each unit shall be
conveyed upto Intermediate Surge Hopper (ISH) by first stage pressure type dense

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phase pneumatic conveying system and from ISH upto the fly ash silos by second stage
pressure type dense phase pneumatic conveying system.
The removal of fly ash from any particular hopper shall be initiated whenever the level in
the hopper reaches predetermined level and this shall continue cycle after cycle till the
level in the hopper reaches low level. Therefore, the removal and transfer of the fly ash
to the intermediate surge hopper shall be done in cyclic manner on a continuous basis.
Generally, the fly ash conveying system shall operate continuously but with time gaps
between cycles. The fly ash removal system shall be designed on a continuous basis
with 20 cycles of operation per hour and during emergency with 30 cycles of operation
per hour. The level probe shall be provided in each hopper in such a way that the ash
collected in the hopper shall be equal to the volume of the ash transmitter vessel. There
shall be one (1) manually operated isolation valve (knife gate type) below each fly ash
hopper which shall be used during maintenance of the ash transmitter vessel.
Disposal of fly ash from silo
3.1.2.2 Dry fly ash from the air pre-heater, economiser and ESP hoppers shall be collected in
the FA storage silos. The fly ash conveying air shall be vented to the atmosphere
through vent filter to mitigate the environmental pollution. Four (4) fly ash silos each of
1500 T capacity shall be provided which shall store together FA generated in about 16
hours of operation for the three Units. One (1) outlet for open truck unloading with rotary
feeder & ash conditioner, one (1) for closed truck unloading with rotary feeder &
telescopic chute, three (3) outlets for high concentration slurry disposal system and one
(1) outlet for future shall be provided below each silo.
Whenever fly ash has to be evacuated by high concentration slurry disposal system into
the disposal area, four (4) Nos. (3 working + 1 standby, each of capacity 125 TPH) of
weighing cum controlled feeding systems and ash conditioners below designated outlets
of each fly ash silo shall feed respective belt conveyors which shall in turn feed
respective mixing tanks located near the silos. The quantity of water depends upon the
rheology of the slurry to be achieved. The resultant high concentration slurry from the
mixing tanks shall be led to four (4) Nos. (three, one for each Unit + one common

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standby) of high concentration slurry disposal pumps each of 450 cum/hr. These pumps
in turn pump high concentration slurry into the designated slurry disposal area.

4.0

AUTOMATIC SEQUENTIAL CONTROLS FOR ASH REMOVAL SYSTEM

4.1

Operation of complete ash evacuation and conveying upto storage silos (bottom ash as
well as fly ash) shall be controlled from the control panel (PLC) located in the control
room for control / sequential operation and monitoring.

4.2

The Bottom and Fly ash handling system operations such as operation of scraper
conveyors, belt conveyors, transmitters, water pumps, etc. can be operated from the
CRT keyboard. However local sump pumps, silo unloading into open or container trucks,
etc. shall be operated locally.

4.3

The silo unloading of both bottom ash and fly ash into trucks shall be controlled from
local control panels located on the operating floors of respective silos. This panel shall
be a conventional relay based panel. The slurry disposal control system also shall be
PLC based system which shall be from the main control system. Ash water recovery
system shall have its own local control system located near the ash pond.

4.4

The Bottom, Fly ash handling systems and the slurry disposal system shall be controlled
from one common PLC control system with CRT and keyboard. This PLC system is
common to bottom and fly ash handling system of both the units. This panel shall be
located in the control room.

4.5

The compressed air system also shall be controlled from same PLC control system
which is located in the control room.

4.6

The bottom and fly ash shall be evacuated from the respective hoppers and transported
to the silos (Bottom and fly ash) either in auto mode or in manual mode. In case of fly
ash handling systems, in auto mode, the operation shall be either in timer mode or in
level probe mode. However normal operation is in level probe mode. In manual mode,
the operation is hopper by hopper selectively. The system operation / initiation is by the

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level probes provided either in the respective hoppers or in the vessel below the
respective hoppers.
4.7

Local push button stations with start/stop push buttons shall be provided near the drives
of all equipment to enable the local start/stop of the equipment or open/close of valves in
the de-interlock mode during testing and maintenance.

4.8

Although above local operation of various systems / equipment are envisaged as above,
status indications of various equipment / systems will be provided on the main AHS
control system which is the main control system for bottom and fly ash handling system
and also in the control system CRT in the Unit Control Room.

5.0

MAJOR EQUIPMENT

5.1

BA HOPPER
The BA hopper shall have a capacity to store 4 hours of bottom ash generation. It shall
be made of MS welded construction having external supports. A seal trough shall be
provided around the top periphery of the BA hopper for furnace sealing and to prevent
ingress of air into the furnace. The hopper shall be lined with monolithic refractory.

5.2

Scraper Chain Conveyor

There shall be two (2) scraper chain conveyors (one (1) working + one (1) standby). The
scraper chain conveyor shall be fitted with water filled trough for quenching of ash. Water
for quenching shall be continuously over flown. The capacity of scraper chain conveyor
shall be 45 TPH.

5.3

CLINKER GRINDERS
Two (one working and one standby) single / double roll type clinker grinder housed in
steel enclosure with suitable liners shall be provided at the discharge end of scraper
chain conveyor. The grinders shall crush the ash clinkers to (-) 25mm size. Capacity of
clinker grinder shall be 45 TPH.

5.4

BELT CONVEYORS
Belt conveyors shall have Nylon-Nylon belts of 650mm width and a speed of 0.7 m/s.
The conveyors shall be provided with fully enclosed galleries to prevent dust nuisance
with 750 mm wide walkways on either side of the conveyors. The conveyors shall be
single stream considering the high reliability of belt conveyors. The conveyors shall be

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provided with all standard accessories such as sprung blade and torsion arm type
external belt scrapers, internal belt scrapers, brakes, hold backs, etc.

5.5

JET PUMP FOR BOTTOM ASH SLURRY DISPOSAL

Jet pump shall have a capacity of 100 TPH to enable pumping the ash from the bottom
ash silo to the ash slurry sump. The materials of construction shall be suitable for the
duty.

5.6

JUNCTION TOWERS
Junction towers shall be of steel construction with concrete floors and side cladding of
either metal or brick work with GI roof and side cladding.

5.7

FLY ASH TRANSMITTER VESSELS

The fly ash transmitters of pressure pneumatic system shall be designed to operate on
the principle of dense phase pressure pneumatic system. The size of the transmitter
vessel below fly ash hoppers shall be selected based on number of cycles per hour to be
limited to 20 cycles per hour on continuous operation basis or 30 cycles per hour during
emergency whichever gives higher size of vessel.

5.8

Conveying and instrument air compressors

The requirement of compressed air for conveying fly ash from fly ash hoppers to ISH
and from ISH to fly ash storage silos shall be met by 100% capacity screw compressors
(for quantity, please refer the enclosed flow diagrams) each with adequately sized air
receivers. The working compressors shall operate normally during continuous running of
the Units. In case, ash handling systems of all the Units are in emergency mode of
operation, all the compressors shall operate for the period of clearance of accumulated
fly ash. Each compressor shall be sized for evacuation of fly ash during emergency
conditions. The requirement of compressed air for instruments, operation of pneumatic
valves in the system and bag filter cleaning shall be met by separate instrument air
compressors (for quantity, please refer the enclosed flow diagrams).

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5.9

ESP hopper fluidizing blowers and FA silo fluidizing blowers

The requirement of fluidizing air for ESP hoppers and ISH shall be met by five (5) air
blowers (three (3) operating and two (2) standby). Similarly, silo aeration requirement
shall be met by four (4) blowers (two (2) operating and two (2) standby) considering
simultaneous unloading of two (2) fly ash silos.

5.10

Fly / Bottom ash conditioners

Fly ash / bottom ash from each of the FA / BA silos shall be disposed into open trucks
through ash conditioners mounted below each silo. There shall be one fly ash
conditioner of suitable capacity below each fly ash and bottom ash silo. The capacity of
bottom ash conditioner and each fly ash conditioner shall be about 200 TPH and 250
TPH respectively.

5.11

Retractable Chute
There shall be one retractable chute fitted with a limit switch for feeding fly ash / bottom
ash from fly ash / bottom ash silos to closed container trucks. There shall be one
retractable chute under each silo.

5.12

Rotary Feeder
Rotary feeder (air lock feeders) below bottom ash silo for slurry disposal will be provided
with a capacity of 100 TPH each and that provided for open / closed truck disposal will
be provided with a capacity of 200 TPH each. Rotary feeder (air lock feeders) below fly
ash silo for open / closed truck disposal will be provided with a capacity of 250 TPH
each. Rotary feeder mounted on outlet for feeding fly / bottom ash to open trucks feeds
fly / bottom ash to dust conditioner. The rotary feeder mounted on the outlet for
unloading fly / bottom ash into container trucks feeds fly / bottom ash to a retractable
chute which in turn unloads fly ash into container trucks.

5.13

Slurry pumps for bottom ash slurry disposal

The slurry pumps shall be horizontal centrifugal type with water sealed bearings. The
capacity of slurry pumps shall be 1000 cum/hr. Two (2) sets of pumps, one operating

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with one standby shall be provided. The material of construction of the casing and
impeller shall be Alloy CI conforming to IS 4771 and shaft shall be of SS 316.

5.14

Bottom ash slurry disposal pipes, bends and fittings and valves
The bottom ash slurry disposal pipes shall be of MS ERW pipes with a thickness of
9.52mm. The bends and fittings shall be of Ni-Cr alloy cast iron having a hardness of
500 BHN.
Slurry line valves will be of knife gate or taper plug type. The knife gate valves will be bidirectional type to achieve tight shut-off.

5.15

Fly Ash slurry piping and valves

The material of construction of the fly ash slurry piping upto the disposal area shall be
seamless Carbon steel conforming to ASTM A106 Gr. B and thickness of the pipe shall
be as per schedule 80.
Slurry line valves will be of knife gate or taper plug type. The knife gate valves will be bidirectional type to achieve tight shut-off. The internals of valves will be made of wear
resistant materials.

5.16

HP water pumps
Three (3) Nos. of horizontal centrifugal high pressure (HP) water pumps (two operating +
one standby) shall be provided which shall take suction from the ash water tank in the
slurry pump house cum compressor room cum control room. HP water pumps shall
supply water to the jet pump/feeder ejector below the bottom ash silo and other bottom
ash requirements such as flushing of nozzles in BAH, inspection window cleaning, etc.

5.17

Seal water pumps

Three (3) (two (2) operating + one (1) standby) horizontal centrifugal type seal water
pumps shall be provided for supplying seal water to the bottom ash slurry pumps and
clinker grinders.

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5.18

LP water pumps
Three (3) Nos. of horizontal centrifugal low pressure (LP) water pumps (two operating +
one standby) shall be provided which shall take suction from the ash water tank in the
Slurry pump house cum compressor room cum control room. LP water pumps shall
supply water to the agitation tank, ash mixer, for scraper conveyor cooling water make
up and bottom ash hopper requirements.

5.19

Ash conditioner water pumps

Three (3) Nos. of horizontal centrifugal pumps (two operating + one standby) shall be
provided which shall take suction from the ash water tank in the Slurry pump house cum
compressor room cum control room. These water pumps shall supply water to the ash
conditioners for proper moistening of ash before unloading onto open trucks.

5.20

HCSD Pumps
Ash slurry in the agitation tank will be disposed to the ash disposal area by means of
HCSD pumps and transport piping. The pumps will be of non-clog, horizontal,
reciprocating and single stage type. Considering the distance of the disposal area
identified, four (4) (three for each Unit + one common standby) Nos. of high
concentration slurry disposal pumps each of 450 cum/hr will be required to pump the ash
slurry to the farthest point in the disposal area. Material of construction of the
components of the pumps will be selected so as to minimise the wear. Further, since fly
ash and bottom ash are not mixed and only fly ash is being disposed off by HCSD
system, the water requirement shall be marginally higher. However, the slurry
concentration shall be ascertained by the vendors after necessary rheology studies.

5.21

Water System for cooling of Compressors

Water for this shall be supplied from auxiliary cooling water (ACW) system.

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5.22

Bottom and Fly Ash Silos

Flat bottom type RCC silos shall be provided. There shall be one (1) bottom ash silo and
four (4) fly ash silos. The capacity of each fly ash silo shall be 1500 T and bottom ash
silo shall be 1000 T and number of outlets, disposal system etc. shall be as discussed
already. The silos shall be provided with bag filters for venting out the conveying air, level
probes for high level monitoring, unloading systems, fluidizing systems, air-ash pipe
terminating arrangements, etc.

5.23

Fly Ash Intermediate Surge Hoppers (ISH)

Two fly ash surge hoppers each of 65 tonnes capacity shall be provided for each Unit,
one arranged next to each other to enable storing of fly ash generated during one hour
operation of the steam generator viz 125 TPH. Each hopper shall be provided with an
outlet below which two (2) fly ash transmitters (one working +one standby) shall be
provided. The fly ash surge hoppers shall be provided with a vent filter for venting out
cleaned air. The mother plate of surge hoppers shall have a thickness of minimum 10
mm and lined with SS 409M plates.

5.24

Fly Ash pipes and valves

For fly ash conveying, MS black ERW heavy duty pipes as per IS 1239. Bends shall be
of alloy cast iron having a hardness of 500 BHN.

The fly ash hopper isolation valves which handle ash shall be of knife gate type with
plate made of stainless steel conforming to SS 304 stellited to minimum 1 mm thickness.
Body and seat shall be made of alloy cast iron with minimum hardness being 350 BHN.
The other ash handling valves shall be of proprietary nature and shall have
corresponding materials of construction. However it shall be specified that the minimum
life of the valves should not be less than one (1) year.

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5.25

Compressor and Pump House Complex

The pump house complex will consist of compressor cum pump house and switchgear
cum control room. The compressor cum pump house will be designed to accommodate
all water pumps, ash slurry pumps and air compressors and their auxiliaries. Adequate
maintenance space will be provided around each equipment. The switchgear room will
be sized to accommodate all the switchgears. The control room will accommodate the
PLC based centralised control panel. The pump house will be provided with a common
underslung crane of suitable capacity for handling pumps, compressors and other
equipment during erection and maintenance. Pressurised ventilation system will be
provided for the compressor cum pump house and the switchgear room. Packaged air
conditioner will be provided for the control room.
This building will be designed as RCC framed structure with 230 mm thick brick
cladding. Underslung crane supported by RC brackets will be provided to handle the
equipment like pumps, compressors, etc. Adequate number of windows, doors will be
provided for access, lighting and ventilation. Compressor and pump foundations will be
designed as block foundations as per IS: 2974 (Part III).

6.0

ASH DISPOSAL AREA

The unutilized BA and unutilized FA from the Units shall be pumped to ash disposal area
/ ash pond. About 60 hectares (23 hectares for bottom ash and 37 hectares for fly ash) is
identified for ash disposal. The ash disposal area shall be lined with geo-membrane
material to avoid percolation of water into earths surface. Water recovered from the ash
disposal area shall be clarified and pumped back to plant area by using recovery water
pumps located at ash disposal area. This water shall be again used in ash handling
system.

7.0

ASH POND AREA ESTIMATION

The ash pond area is estimated as given below based on the following inputs and
assumptions.

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a.

Worst coal firing rate per Unit

: 400 TPH.

b.

Ash content

: 34%

c.

Percentage of Fly ash to be considered for design

purposes

: 90%

d.

Percentage of Bottom ash

: 20%

e.

Ultimate mound height considered for high

concentration slurry disposal of fly ash

: 20m

f.

Height of ash bund considered for lean slurry : 3.5 m initial height.
disposal of bottom ash
Subsequent increase of
3.5m in two phases and
4.5m in last phase up to
ultimate height of 15 m.

g.

Loss in disposal area due to bund construction

(applicable for lean slurry disposal only)

: About 35%

h.

Bulk density of ash considered for ash disposal

area calculation

: 1.0 T/cum for bottom ash

& 1.3 T/cum for fly ash.

j.

BA ash generated per hour per unit

: 27 T

k.

FA ash generated per hour per unit

: 125 T

l.

Area available for ash disposal

Ash pond area required for bottom ash disposal

for a period of 4 years
m.
(Item j x 3 x 24 x 365 x 4 x 0.85 x 1.35) / (item h x
item f)
Ash pond area required for fly ash disposal for a
period of 2.5 years
n.
(Item k x 3 x 24 x 365 x 2.5 x 0.85 x 1.35) / (item h
x item e)

8.0

60 hectares

: 23 hectares
37 hectares
:

ASH UTILISATION
The environmental regulations are becoming stringent on the ash disposal aspect. The
present draft notification stipulates 100% ash utilization by the end of 3 rd year of
operation. The fly ash shall be collected in silos and most of it shall be utilized /

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marketed in dry form. The fly ash which cannot be utilised / marketed shall be disposed
to the ash dump area in slurry form.
The fly ash generated in thermal power stations has commercial value because of its
usage in cement and construction industries. Fly ash generated from the plant shall be
commercially utilised in one or more of the following industries to the extent possible:

8.1

(a)

Cement industry

(b)

Brick industry

(c)

Fly ash aggregate making industry

(d)

Road making / paving

CEMENT INDUSTRY
Fly ash is used in the production of Pozzolona cement by intergrinding Portland cement
clinkers and fly ash or by blending intimately and uniformly Portland cement and fly ash.
Indian Standard specifications limit the Pozzolona (fly ash or similar material) component
up to 30% by weight whereas in other countries it varies from 15 to 50%.
The advantages of fly ash in the manufacture of Portland Pozzolona Cement (PPC) as
compared to other Pozzolonic materials are two-fold.
(d)

Better hydraulic properties of fly ash.

(e)

Cement retains its natural and accepted grey colour instead of becoming mudred in case bricks / tiles are used as Pozzolonic materials.

8.2

BRICK INDUSTRY
Fly ash produced in modern thermal power stations can be used in making bricks. The
Cement Association of India has conducted research and experiments for making hollow
bricks using fly ash. The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee has also
conducted experiments in making bricks by using fly ash as an admixture with black
cotton soil. In this project, bricks of minimum 105 kg/sq.cm strength were produced by
CBRI.
It is reported from Kolaghat thermal station that bricks are being manufactured by local
brick manufacturers with 70% fly ash and 30% clay which give higher strength than
conventional bricks.

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8.3

CONCRETE / BUILDING INDUSTRY

Fly ash is used in the building industry largely as a concrete additive. Fly ash can also
be sintered into pellets for use as light weight aggregate.
Laboratory and pilot plant trials carried out at CBRI, Roorkee have established that
sintered light weight aggregate can be successfully produced from Indian fly ash and
used for producing plain concrete as well as reinforced concrete beams and slabs.
Laboratory investigations and factory trials have shown the technical feasibility of
manufacture of cellular concrete from lime and fly ash. It is more economical to produce
this cellular concrete than the cement-sand cellular concrete, which is being produced in
the country at present.
Fly ash can also be used as masonry mortar. The work done at CBRI suggests that
mixtures shall be thicker than 1:6 (by volume) to enable them to be used as mortar. As a
masonry mortar, fly ash is used in place of Surkhi and prepared in a way similar to LimeSurkhi mortar. Lime fly ash mortars are cheaper and better in performance and strength
than Lime-Sand mortars.

8.4

ROADS / PAVING
It has been reported from the laboratory tests conducted by the Cement Association of
India that fly ash with other ingredients can be used for paving roads and airport
runways. Fly ash mixed with sand and hydrated lime is used as a base course of asphalt
pavement. The breaking strength of such a pavement is calculated to be as high as 68
kg/sq.cm (1000 psi). As a result of a series of experiments, the mixtures of ingredients
added in the following recommended proportions gave a good paving material with
adequate strength and reasonable setting time.
Ingredients

Composition by Weight (%)

Fly ash

12 14

Lime

2.8 3.6

Portland Cement

0.7 0.9

Sand

80 84.5

The above mixture developed a strength from 54 to 95 kg/sq.cm (800-1400 psi) in about
90 days at a temperature of 18 deg. C to 21 deg. C. Further, the experiments have
shown that 30% of crushed stones (instead of sand) established a strength of 102 136
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kg/sq.cm (1500-2000 psi). The total cost of manufacturing the paving mixture comes to
about one and half that of ordinary road stone which has much less strength and to less
than one third the cost of lime concrete which has good strength. Even the extra strength
obtained by using 30% crushed stones as a substitute for sand, the cost is not expected
to exceed that of conventional materials
8.5

Fly Ash Aggregate

The fly ash can be converted to light weight aggregate which can substitute the
presently used conventional aggregate, in concrete blocks, flooring and non-load
bearing structures such as compound walls, canals, pavements, etc. The main
components of the process are fly ash, calcium oxide, fresh water quenched bottom ash
(optional), sand, water and chemically bonding additives. The calcium from lime reacts
with silica and alumina in fly ash to produce calcium / aluminium materials in a reaction
similar to that of Portland cement. These minerals bond the fly ash particles tightly so
that hard, strong and practically unleachable pellets are formed.

These pellets are

heated at low temperature to cure them.

It may be noted that proportions of different ingredients to make bricks / cellular concrete
/ briquettes with fly ash chiefly depends on the constituents of the particular fly ash.
Therefore, the particular type of fly ash is to be analysed for the properties of its
constituents and checked for suitability or otherwise and suitable proportions of
ingredients are to be determined by laboratory tests / pilot plant tests.

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