Dispersion Modeling of Leachates from Thermal Power Plants
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 12
Abstract
Ground and surface water contamination due to leaching of trace elements from ash ponds is a major environmental challenge for thermal power plants. Leaching of trace elements from the ash ponds indicated significant concentration of nine trace elements (Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Pb, Mn, Cu, and Zn) in the leachates of various thermal power plants. The empirical models developed for the prediction of various trace elements i.e., Mn, Cu, Fe, Zn, and Pb, followed first-order reaction rate kinetics. The empirical models derived from the laboratory scale models were subsequently modified to account for the changes in the chemistry, mineralogy, and morphology of fly ash with respect to time which correlated well with the real field data with regression coefficients varying from 0.93 to 0.98. The modified empirical models predicted concentrations of the trace elements within of the observed values for four thermal power plants with standard deviation varying from 0.001 to 0.032.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Akira, I., Tsunenori, N., Hirokazu, T., Akira, O., Yoshio, F., and Toru, Y. (2005). “Effect of pretreatment conditions on the determination of major and trace elements in coal fly ash using ICP-AES.” Fuel, in press.
American Public Health Association (APHA). (1995). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 19th Ed., Washington, D.C.
Ashokan, P., Saxena, M., and Asokan, A. (2003). “Characteristics variation of coal combustion residues in an Indian ash pond.” Waste Manage. Res., 22, 265–275.
Department of Water Affairs & Forestry (DWAF). (1996). Water quality guidelines, domestic use, 2nd Ed., Vol. 1, Pretoria.
Gupta, S. C., and Kapoor, V. K. (2000). Fundamentals of mathematical statistics, 10th Ed., Sultan Chand & Sons, New Delhi, India.
Hassett, D. J. (1994). “Scientifically valid leaching of coal combustion residues to predict environmental impact.” Fuel Process. Technol., 39, 445–459.
Hower, J. C., Robl, T. L., Anderson, C., Thomas, G. A., Sakulpitakphon, T., Mardon, S. M., and Clark, W. L. (2005). “Characteristics of coal combustion products (CCP’s) from Kentucky power plants, with emphasis on mercury content.” Fuel, 84(11), 1338–1350.
Liu, G., Yang, P., and Wang, G. (2000a). “The migration of trace and minor elements of coal in the soil environments.” Acta Geosciencetica Sinica, 22(4), 423–427.
Liu, G., Yang, P., and Wang, G. (2003). “Comparative study of the quality of some coals from the Zibo coal field.” Energy, 28(1), 969–978.
Liu, G., Yang, P., Zhang, W., and Wang, G. (2000b). “Research on emission of minor elements from coal during combustion.” J. China Univ. of Mining Tech., 1, 62–66.
Marcal, P., Haidi, F., and Elba Calesso, T. (1997). “Geochemical distribution of trace elements in coal, modelling and environmental aspects.” Fuel, 76(14/15), 1425–1437.
Praharaj, T., Powell, M. A., Hart, B. R., and Tripathy, S. (2002). “Leachability of elements from subbituminous coal fly ash from India.” Environ. Int., 27(8), 609–615.
Singh, G. (2005). “Environmental assessment of fly ash from some thermal power stations for reclamation of mined out areas.” International Congress Fly Ash 2005, India (FAUP), TIFAC, Dept. of Science and Technology, Government of India, IV 9.1–9.10.
Singh, G., and Kumar, R. (2004). “Assessment of trace elements contamination from fly ash of fertilizer cooperation of India Ltd. Sindari in its disposal environment.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Environment and Development, Institute of Social Studies, Kolkatta, India.
Skidmore, J. F. (1964). “Toxicity of zinc compounds in aquatic animals with special reference to fish.” Q. Rev. Biol., 39, 227–248.
Spear, P. A. (1981). “Zinc in the aquatic environment: Chemistry, distribution and toxicology.” Scientific Criteria for Environment Quality, Rep. No. 17589, National Research Council of Canada (NRCC), Ottawa.
Sunderarajan, M., Chakraborty, M. K., and Loveson, V. J. (1994). “An appropriate mathematical model to forecast the environmental time series and its application in Himachal Pradesh rainfall region with the aid of computer.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Environmental Issues in Minerals and Energy Industry, IME Publications, 349–357.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 8, 2006
Accepted: May 25, 2007
Published online: Dec 1, 2007
Published in print: Dec 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.