Archived
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Location
Lexington, Kentucky
Start Date
7-5-2026 11:30 AM
End Date
7-5-2026 12:00 PM
Description
Coal ash has historically been used as a convenient, on-site solidification material for brines generated from flue gas desulfurization at power plants. As alternate utilization scenarios are developed for coal ash, lignocellulosic (wood-based) sorbents can serve as a highly efficient substitute for the solidification process. Results will be shared for a variety of different brine types: thermally reduced, thermally reduced and neutralized, and reverse osmosis. In addition to solidification performance, which demonstrated a 3-4x mass of liquid vs mass of sorbent factor, studies were conducted to quantify the strength of binding to the wood-based sorbent for a broad range of metals. While alkali and alkali-earth metals were minimally retained with subsequent exposure to an excess of water, a number of hazardous metals including arsenic (As), selenium (Se), molybdenum (Mo), and lead (Pb) were strongly retained. Implications of these findings related to long-term landfill sequestration and the potential for use of these sorbents as kinetically effective metals filtration media will be discussed highlighting the superior performance of these sorbents. Additional implementation considerations will also be shared providing evidence of the practicality of lignocellulosics as a substitute for coal ash, in situations where higher value applications have been identified, as a solidifying agent in zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) systems.
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
Brine Solidification and Metals Sequestration Using Lignocellulosics
Lexington, Kentucky
Coal ash has historically been used as a convenient, on-site solidification material for brines generated from flue gas desulfurization at power plants. As alternate utilization scenarios are developed for coal ash, lignocellulosic (wood-based) sorbents can serve as a highly efficient substitute for the solidification process. Results will be shared for a variety of different brine types: thermally reduced, thermally reduced and neutralized, and reverse osmosis. In addition to solidification performance, which demonstrated a 3-4x mass of liquid vs mass of sorbent factor, studies were conducted to quantify the strength of binding to the wood-based sorbent for a broad range of metals. While alkali and alkali-earth metals were minimally retained with subsequent exposure to an excess of water, a number of hazardous metals including arsenic (As), selenium (Se), molybdenum (Mo), and lead (Pb) were strongly retained. Implications of these findings related to long-term landfill sequestration and the potential for use of these sorbents as kinetically effective metals filtration media will be discussed highlighting the superior performance of these sorbents. Additional implementation considerations will also be shared providing evidence of the practicality of lignocellulosics as a substitute for coal ash, in situations where higher value applications have been identified, as a solidifying agent in zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) systems.
