Geopolymerization of Coal Fly Ash, Ceramic Tile Waste and

Spent Bleaching Earth for the Production of Sodium

Aluminosilicate Monolith
Ichiro KAKOH1*, Hanako FUJISAN2, and Nagatsuki YONAGA1
1Faculty of Engineering, Bunkyo Capital University, 4-6-19 Kohinata, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0006, Japan
2Graduate School of Natural Sciences, Higashi-Sapporo University, 1-1-1 Higashi-Sapporo, Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 003-
0006, Japan

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1 Introduction heavy metal and mineral contents and poses harmful

effects on the residents living near the power plant
(Santillo, D., 2012).
Geopolymerization is an innovative technology that can In addition, spent bleaching earth is combined with
utilize raw materials rich in alumina and silica to produce coal fly ash, because of its high generation in the
new materials characterized by three-dimensional Philippines and it has no significant utilization. The spent
polymeric structures called geopolymers. (Panias, 2016) bleaching earth is highly susceptible to spontaneous
Sodium aluminosilicate monolith is a geopolymer that can combustion due to the 20% to 40% by weight (Lim, W.S.
be used as concrete in building and construction materials et al, 2013) of oil entrained in it. According to Mecpro
(Provis & van Deventer, 2014) Moreover, it has the (2012), spent bleaching earth is usually disposed of in
greatest potential to replace zeolite adsorbent in removing landfills or waste dumps which can cause environmental
heavy metal from wastewater (Ariffin et al, 2017) hazards, since it is prone to catching fire, besides polluting
Furthermore, this can be applied in high temperature the ground water. Handling and disposing of spent earth
applications such as furnace linings, fire resistant is a fire risk, an operating expense, and a source of
coatings, thermal insulation and wall panels (Bernal et al, environmental regulatory concerns (Department of
2014). Environment and Natural Resources, 2018). Furthermore,
In the production of sodium aluminosilicate ceramic tile waste is also added because of its high
monolith, materials rich in alumina and silica are reacted generation and good alumina and silica content. Ceramic
and formed by alkaline activation at slightly higher than tile waste is a non-hazardous material, but its non-
room temperature (Nguyen, G.H., et.al, 2015) Industrial biodegradability poses a problem because only 65% of
by-products such as ceramic tile wastes (CTW), coal fly this waste is recycled leaving a large amount of solid
ash (CFA), and spent bleaching earth (SBE) shows great waste from the ceramic tile industry (Department of Trade
potential for silica and alumina sources. and Industry, 2017).
Coal fly ash is an industrial by-product derived from In this study, the proponents aimed to produce sodium
coal combustion in thermal power plants. According to aluminosilicate monolith from the ternary mixture of coal
Department of Energy (2018), coal-fired power plants has fly ash, ceramic tile waste and spent bleaching earth that
remained the dominant energy source in the Philippines conforms to the properties of lightweight concrete panels.
with a share of 35.4% or 8,049 megawatts (MW), and it The raw materials were characterized using X-ray
will continue to increase to over 55% by 2027. In 2017, fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, and Fourier transform
the total generation of coal fly ash amounted to infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy. In addition,
168,650.20 metric tons. This by-product has minimaly geopolymerization is highly dependent on the reactivity
utilized as an additive in cement (Rivera, D., 2017) and of the materials used. To determine the reactivity of the
largely being disposed in the landfills near the power raw materials, dissolution tests were conducted at room
plant. In addition to the issue of increasing need for temperature adapting the procedure outlined in the study
landfill area, coal ash disposal poses the threat of the of Kalaw et al (2016). A mixture design using a Scheffé-
contamination of surface waters and groundwater from its based model was used to determine the mix proportions

*
Corresponding author: ikakoh@e-mail.org
and to obtain the optimum mix conditions of a CFA- centred across both columns at the top or the bottom of
CTW-SBE ternary mix geopolymer to obtain the the page.
properties for lightweight and medium strength structural
material. The mechanical properties of the geopolymer
samples formed were evaluated using compressive 3 Results and Discussion
strength tests, and FTIR. Lastly, to assess its suitability as
adsorbents for wastewater treatment, the optimum ternary 3.1. Characterization of Raw Materials
mix geopolymer obtained were used for adsorption of
methylene blue and its mechanism were fitted using Each figure and table must have a caption. Captions
Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. should be typed in 9-point Times and centred. They
should be placed above tables and beneath figures.

2 Materials and Methodology

3.2 Optimum Ternary Mixture Ratio for the
Production of Sodium Aluminosilicate Monolith
2.1. Sources of Raw Materials
Cite figures and tables as “Figure 1”, “Figures 2 and 3”,
The coal fly ash was obtained from a coal fired power “Table 1”, etc. in the text. Place the figure as close as
plant located in Batangas, Philippines and was used as possible after the point where it is first referenced in the
received. On the other hand, the spent bleaching earth text. If there is a large number of figures and tables it may
samples were obtained from a palm oil manufacturing be necessary to place some before their text citation. If a
facility in coordination with Department of Environment figure or table is too large to fit into one column, it can be
and Natural Resources (DENR). Lastly, the ceramic tile centred across both columns at the top or the bottom of
waste was obtained from a ceramic tile manufacturing the page.
plant in Batangas, Philippines. Alkali activator used in the
study was prepared using analytical reagents purchased
from a local company at an 80-20 mass ratio of 8M NaOH 3.3 Characterization of Sodium Aluminosilicate
(sodium hydroxide) solution and Na2SiO3 (sodium Monolith Produced
silicate) solution. In addition, the blowing agent used is
Cite figures and tables as “Figure 1”, “Figures 2 and 3”,
2% hydrogen peroxide solution.
“Table 1”, etc. in the text. Place the figure as close as
possible after the point where it is first referenced in the
2.2 Characterization of Raw Materials text. If there is a large number of figures and tables it may
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possible after the point where it is first referenced in the the page.
text. If there is a large number of figures and tables it may
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figure or table is too large to fit into one column, it can be Equations should be centred and numbered, with the
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Ts (l,t) = Tg (l,t) (1)

2.3 Dissolution Tests Ts (l,t) = Tg (l,t) Tb (x   , t) = 0 (2)

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4 Conclusion
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2.4 Pre-Treatment of Raw Materials and Acknowledgements

Geopolymer Production
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References
be necessary to place some before their text citation. If a References should be cited in the text as follows: Kakoh
figure or table is too large to fit into one column, it can be and Fujisan (2019), Kakoh and Fujisan (2018a, 2018b),
Kakoh et al. (2017), (Kakoh et al., 2017; Kakoh and
Fujisan, 2019), and (Kakoh and Fujisan, 2018a, 2018b).
A complete reference should provide enough
information to locate the article. For example, references
to printed journal articles should typically contain:
• The authors, in the form: initials of the first names
followed by last name (only the first letter capitalized
with full stops after the initials),
• The journal title (abbreviated),
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• The article number or the page numbers,
• The year of publication (in round brackets).
Authors should use the forms shown in Table 3 in the
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Table 3. Font styles for a reference to a journal article

Element Style
Normal
Initials followed by last name
Authors
except first author (see examples
below)
Italics
Journal title
Abbreviated
Normal
Article title, Book First letter of each word
title, Proceedings capitalized, excluding
title preposition, conjunction, and
articles

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Page number Normal

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Here are some examples:

Kakoh, I., H. Fujisan, and N. Yonaga; “Article Title,”

Abbreviated Journal Title, 38, 98-105 (2017)
Kakoh, I. and H. Fujisan; “Article Title,” The 18th Asian
Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering
Congress, pp. 8-14 (pages or article number), Sapporo,
Japan (2018a)
Kakoh, I. and H. Fujisan; Chemical Engineering
Handbook, pp. 321-325, the Society of Chemical
Engineers, Japan ed., Tokyo, Japan (2018b)
Kakoh, I. and H. Fujisan; “Article Title,” Abbreviated
Journal Title, 1, 123-127 (2019)