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Location
Lexington, Kentucky
Start Date
6-5-2026 11:30 AM
End Date
6-5-2026 12:00 PM
Description
Some coal ashes exhibit soil-like textures and colors. If the coal ash and native soil at an impoundment or landfill site have similar appearances, it can be difficult to distinguish these materials in the field. Therefore, field and lab methods may be needed to supplement visual and manual observations. The results of a laboratory investigation of rapid screening methods (induced polarization, magnetic susceptibility, nuclear magnetic resonance, and colorimetry) for the discrimination of coal ashes and soils are discussed. Across five series of lab-created soil and coal ash mixtures, lab measurements of induced polarization and magnetic susceptibility values both showed strong predictability of coal ash content. Colorimetry showed inconsistent predictability with percent ash across the series and nuclear magnetic resonance values showed no apparent relationship with percent ash under the lab test conditions. Combined models incorporating induced polarization, magnetic susceptibility and colorimetry values using power-mean fitting or machine learning approaches improved the overall performance over individual measures. Combined models calibrated using known site end member materials of pure soil and pure ash outperformed combined models developed without end-member calibration, though uncalibrated models still exhibited promise. Overall, these results suggest the use of these measurements and their combinations in the prediction of coal ash percentage is feasible, and further development may yield field deployable methods.
Document Type
Presentation
Archival?
Archival
Included in
Energy Systems Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Mining Engineering Commons, Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons, Structural Materials Commons, Sustainability Commons
Rapid Field Methods to Distinguish Coal Ash and Soil
Lexington, Kentucky
Some coal ashes exhibit soil-like textures and colors. If the coal ash and native soil at an impoundment or landfill site have similar appearances, it can be difficult to distinguish these materials in the field. Therefore, field and lab methods may be needed to supplement visual and manual observations. The results of a laboratory investigation of rapid screening methods (induced polarization, magnetic susceptibility, nuclear magnetic resonance, and colorimetry) for the discrimination of coal ashes and soils are discussed. Across five series of lab-created soil and coal ash mixtures, lab measurements of induced polarization and magnetic susceptibility values both showed strong predictability of coal ash content. Colorimetry showed inconsistent predictability with percent ash across the series and nuclear magnetic resonance values showed no apparent relationship with percent ash under the lab test conditions. Combined models incorporating induced polarization, magnetic susceptibility and colorimetry values using power-mean fitting or machine learning approaches improved the overall performance over individual measures. Combined models calibrated using known site end member materials of pure soil and pure ash outperformed combined models developed without end-member calibration, though uncalibrated models still exhibited promise. Overall, these results suggest the use of these measurements and their combinations in the prediction of coal ash percentage is feasible, and further development may yield field deployable methods.
