Leachability Determination of Elements in Fly Ash as a Potential Fertilizer

When burning coal, the ash that is leftover is known as fly ash. For this research, the fly ash was supplied by a biomass company. Fly ash contains a range of elements that can be toxic or beneficial to the environment and soil—essentially having the potential to act as a fertilizer. Furthermore, leaching is a procedure that is used to extract elements from environmental samples. Leachability was simulated in this research by adding water to certain types of fly ash, and analyzing the samples after 1 to 4 weeks, to see if the concentrations of elements, or leachable recoveries, decreases with time or stays the same. In this study, the content and leachability of 11 elements will be determined—zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The importance of this research is demonstrated by the potential of fly ash to be used as a fertilizer. To uncover the leaching ability of the toxic elements and the beneficial elements in fly ash would determine the environmental impacts that this potential fertilizer has, and whether it is suitable for crops. In addition, fly ash being used as a fertilizer would increase the utilization of ash and can pose as a solution to the thousands of tons of ash being wasted yearly