International Journal of Environmental Research and Development. ISSN 2249-3131 Volume 4, Number 2 (2014), pp. 129-134 © Research India Publications http://www.ripublication.com/ijerd.htm Physical and Chemical Characterization of Pond Ash Prasenjit Ghosh and Sudha Goel Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India. Abstract Of the total Solid Waste generated in India, approximately 25% is residue from coal combustion. These residues include fly ash, bottom ash and pond ash. Pond ash is a mixture of dry fly ash and bottom ash. During the years 2010-12, about 408 Million tonnes/year of coal was used and over 130 Million tonnes/year of fly ash was generated by 88 thermal power plants all over India. Pond ash contributes to two major environmental problems: generation of respirable particulate matter (a major air pollutant) and pollution of soil and water due to leaching of heavy metals. The objective of this study was to determine the environmental impacts of open dumping of pond ash around a thermal power plant. Physico-chemical characterization of three pond ash samples collected from Kolaghat Thermal Power Plant was done. Physical characterization of the samples included determination of Total Solids, Volatile Solids, Fixed Solids, specific gravity, specific surface area, hydraulic conductivity, dry densities, particle size distribution and performing Scanning Electron Microscopy for obtaining morphological characteristics. Surface reactivity and EDS analyses were done to assess different chemical characteristics of the same pond ash samples. Specific surface area gave fineness data and EDS gave elemental composition of the ash samples. Finally, the potential hazards of the samples were assessed depending upon these results. Keywords: CCR; EDS; SEM; thermal power plant; pond ash; fineness. 1. Introduction The amount of CCR (coal combustion residue) released by factories and thermal power plants has been increasing throughout the world, and their disposal has become