Abstract
Coal fly ash (FA) is one of the major by-products from coal-fired power generation. Global FA generation is estimated to be 800 million Mg/yr. Huge amounts of FA were disposed at open-air dumping site or landfilling without appropriate utilization. The storage and handling of FA are ongoing challenges in the context of environment impact. New applications of FA are significantly required. Research on recycling and reuse FA as eco-friendly products and engineering composites have been considered since the past decade. Functional polymers are promising candidates in fabrication of high performance composites as they are able to maximize the interaction between filler and polymer matrix. In this study, biodegradable polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was used as matrix; cellulose was used as the crosslinking holder to form supporting structures of fly ash based porous composites. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observed the morphology of the composites, and the micrograph showed porosity of the composites varied with different temperatures in fabrication process. The objective of this research is to develop high strength biodegradable PVA/ cellulose/FA composites, thus recycle FA in fabrication of the composites with high FA concentration, which will be a potential candidate in application of industrial fields.
