Abstract—Fly ash is one of the residues generated in combustion, and comprises the fine particles that rise with the flue gases. Ash which does not rise is termed bottom ash [1]. In our country, it is expected that will be occurred 50 million tons of waste ash per year until 2020. Released waste from the thermal power plants is caused very significant problems as known. The fly ashes can be evaluated by using as adsorbent material. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of use of Tuncbilek fly ash like low-cost adsorbents for heavy metal adsorption. First of all, Tuncbilek fly ash was characterized. For this purpose; analysis such as sieve analysis, XRD, XRF, SEM and FT-IR were performed. Keywords—Fly ash, heavy metal, sieve, adsorbent I. INTRODUCTION LY ash is a significant waste. It is released of thermal power plants and defined as very fine particles. The particles are drifted upward with up taken by the flue gases due to the burning of used coal. Emerging the amount of fly ash in the world is approximately 600 million tons per year [2]. Large amounts of fly ash consist by burning of coal in thermal power plants. In recent years, the various application areas started to be investigated due to the nature of fly ash waste and polluting the environment. The fly-ash is capable of removing organic contaminants in consequence of high carbon content, a large surface area per unit volume and contained Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, and Si elements. Therefore, fly ash is used as an effective coagulant and adsorbent [3]-[5]. Heavy metals [6] are one of the most important contaminants in water and soil. Heavy metals are discharged to the environment by several industries, such as mining, metallurgical, electronic, electroplating and metal finishing. A. S. Kipcak, is with the Yildiz Technical University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Davutpasa Campus, 34210 Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey (phone: 0090-212-3834751; fax: 0090-212-3834725; e-mail: skipcak@ yildiz.edu.tr / seyhunkipcak@gmail.com). N. Baran Acarali, is with the Yildiz Technical University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Davutpasa Campus, 34210 Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey (phone: 0090-212-3834766; fax: 0090-212-3834725; e-mail: nbaran@ yildiz.edu.tr / nilbaran@gmail.com). S. Kolemen, is with the Yildiz Technical University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Davutpasa Campus, 34210 Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey (phone: 0090-212-3834790; fax: 0090-212-3834725; e-mail: seymakolemen@hotmail.com). N. Tugrul, is with the Yildiz Technical University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Davutpasa Campus, 34210 Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey (phone: 0090-212-3834776; fax: 0090-212-3834725; e-mail: ntugrul@hotmail.com). E. Moroydor Derun, is with the Yildiz Technical University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Davutpasa Campus, 34210 Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey (phone: 0090-212-3834756; fax: 0090-212-3834725; e-mail: moroydor@gmail.com). S. Piskin, is with the Yildiz Technical University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Davutpasa Campus, 34210 Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey (phone: 0090-212-3834729; fax: 0090-212-3834725; e-mail: piskin@yildiz.edu.tr). The removal of heavy metals from wastewaters is of critical importance due to their high toxicity and tendency to accumulate in living organisms. Moreover, heavy metals can not be degraded or destroyed [7]. The aim of this study is to investigate the possibility of use of Tuncbilek fly ash like low-cost adsorbents for heavy metal adsorption. Analysis such as sieve analysis, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) were performed to characterize Tuncbilek fly ash. Depending on the results of the analysis, morphology and chemical composition of Tuncbilek fly ash was investigated. II. EXPERIMENTAL A. Materials The Tuncbilek fly ash was acquired from Electricity Generation Company. B. Equipments Equipment used for characterization in the present study are listed below: XRD analysis: Crystalline structures of solids were determined by XRD technique. Fig. 1 XRD The X-ray analysis was carried out at an ambient temperature by using a Philips Panalytical X’Pert-Pro diffractometer with CuKa radiation (k = 0.15418 nm) at operating parameters of 40 mA and 45 kV with step size 0.02° and speed of 1°/min. Phase identification of solids was performed by inorganic crystal structure database (ICSD) (Fig. 1). A Panalytical-Minipal4 equipped with an array of 12 analyzing crystals and fitted with a Rh X-ray tube target was used. A vacuum was used as the medium of analyses to avoid interaction of X-rays with air particles [8] (Fig. 2). Study on Characterization of Tuncbilek Fly Ash F A.S. Kipcak, N. Baran Acarali, S. Kolemen, N. Tugrul, E. Moroydor Derun, S. Piskin World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Chemical and Molecular Engineering Vol:6, No:7, 2012 621 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 6(7) 2012 ISNI:0000000091950263 Open Science Index, Chemical and Molecular Engineering Vol:6, No:7, 2012 publications.waset.org/7782/pdf