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

Geopolymerization is an innovative technology that can
utilize raw materials rich in alumina and silica to produce
new materials characterized by three-dimensional
polymeric structures called geopolymers. (Panias, 2016)
Sodium aluminosilicate monolith is a geopolymer that can
be used as concrete in building and construction materials
(Provis & van Deventer, 2014) Moreover, it has the
greatest potential to replace zeolite adsorbent in removing
heavy metal from wastewater (Ariffin et al, 2017)
Furthermore, this can be applied in high temperature
applications such as furnace linings, fire resistant
coatings, thermal insulation and wall panels (Bernal et al,
2014).
In the production of sodium aluminosilicate
monolith, materials rich in alumina and silica are reacted
and formed by alkaline activation at slightly higher than
room temperature (Nguyen, G.H., et.al, 2015) Industrial
by-products such as ceramic tile wastes (CTW), coal fly
ash (CFA), and spent bleaching earth (SBE) shows great
potential for silica and alumina sources.
Coal fly ash is an industrial by-product derived from
coal combustion in thermal power plants. According to
Department of Energy (2018), coal-fired power plants has
remained the dominant energy source in the Philippines
with a share of 35.4% or 8,049 megawatts (MW), and it
will continue to increase to over 55% by 2027. In 2017,
the total generation of coal fly ash amounted to
168,650.20 metric tons. This by-product has minimaly
utilized as an additive in cement (Rivera, D., 2017) and
largely being disposed in the landfills near the power
plant. In addition to the issue of increasing need for
landfill area, coal ash disposal poses the threat of the
contamination of surface waters and groundwater from its
effects on the residents living near the power plant
(Santillo, D., 2012).
In addition, spent bleaching earth is combined with
coal fly ash, because of its high generation in the
Philippines and it has no significant utilization. The spent
bleaching earth is highly susceptible to spontaneous
combustion due to the 20% to 40% by weight (Lim, W.S.
et al, 2013) of oil entrained in it. According to Mecpro
(2012), spent bleaching earth is usually disposed of in
landfills or waste dumps which can cause environmental
hazards, since it is prone to catching fire, besides polluting
the ground water. Handling and disposing of spent earth
is a fire risk, an operating expense, and a source of
environmental regulatory concerns (Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, 2018). Furthermore,
ceramic tile waste is also added because of its high
generation and good alumina and silica content. Ceramic
tile waste is a non-hazardous material, but its non-
biodegradability poses a problem because only 65% of
this waste is recycled leaving a large amount of solid
waste from the ceramic tile industry (Department of Trade
and Industry, 2017).
In this study, the proponents aimed to produce sodium
aluminosilicate monolith from the ternary mixture of coal
fly ash, ceramic tile waste and spent bleaching earth that
conforms to the properties of lightweight concrete panels.
The raw materials were characterized using X-ray
fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, and Fourier transform
infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy. In addition,
geopolymerization is highly dependent on the reactivity
of the materials used. To determine the reactivity of the
raw materials, dissolution tests were conducted at room
temperature adapting the procedure outlined in the study
of Kalaw et al (2016). A mixture design using a Scheffé-
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-
CTW-SBE ternary mix geopolymer to obtain the
properties for lightweight and medium strength structural
material. The mechanical properties of the geopolymer
samples formed were evaluated using compressive
strength tests, and FTIR. Lastly, to assess its suitability as
adsorbents for wastewater treatment, the optimum ternary
mix geopolymer obtained were used for adsorption of
methylene blue and its mechanism were fitted using
Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models.
2 Materials and Methodology
2.1. Sources of Raw Materials
The coal fly ash was obtained from a coal fired power
plant located in Batangas, Philippines and was used as
received. On the other hand, the spent bleaching earth
samples were obtained from a palm oil manufacturing
facility in coordination with Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR). Lastly, the ceramic tile
waste was obtained from a ceramic tile manufacturing
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
(sodium hydroxide) solution and Na2SiO3 (sodium
silicate) solution. In addition, the blowing agent used is
2% hydrogen peroxide solution.
2.2 Characterization of Raw Materials
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2.3 Dissolution Tests
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2.4 Pre-Treatment of Raw Materials and
Geopolymer Production
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3 Results and Discussion
3.1. Characterization of Raw Materials
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3.2 Optimum Ternary Mixture Ratio for the
Production of Sodium Aluminosilicate Monolith
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3.3 Characterization of Sodium Aluminosilicate
Monolith Produced
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Equations should be centred and numbered, with the
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Ts (l,t) = Tg (l,t) (1)
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4 Conclusion
Acknowledgements
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References
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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).
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