Australian Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy
Investigators: A/Prof. Pramod Koshy and Prof. Charles Sorrell
Industry Partner: Vecor Technologies Pty. Ltd.
Timeframe: 2024 – 2027
Exploring the potential of fly ash
Fly ash is the fine-sized lightweight residue that results from coal combustion in powerstations. Fly ash is not just a waste product, but an in-demand resource used in the construction industry. It is commonly used as a cement additive to improve the durability and workability of concrete mixes.
Despite its usefulness to the construction industry, vast quantities of fly ash remain unused, stored either in ash “ponds” or buried. Its potential to be repurposed as a low-cost additive for structural, thermal, chemical, and optical applications for use in paints and coatings is now being investigated in a research collaboration supported by the Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy.
For many years, UNSW researchers have been working with Vecor Technologies to convert waste fly ash into advanced products for a range of targeted industries. Building upon technologies originally spun out of UNSW to develop building materials, fly-ash has demonstrated potential applications as advanced materials for use in a variety of sectors.
Vecor has invested in dedicated research laboratories to explore technical innovation and product development led by UNSW academics Associate Professor Pramod Koshy and Professor Charles Sorrell.
“While Vecor’s history of fly ash R&D with our UNSW colleagues was concentrated on more conventional products, we are now exploring the modification of fly ash to facilitate expansion into new areas of high-value products.” said Vecor CEO Mark Ramsey.
“Of the estimated 400 million tonnes of fly ash that have been stockpiled globally in landfill and tailing ponds, only 15% of this resource has been utilised, with almost half of this fraction going to the cement and concrete industries and the rest to geotechnical applications.” Professor Sorrell said, adding that most people look at fly ash as a low-grade waste material.
“In reality fly ash is a ceramic raw material with unique chemical and physical characteristics,” he said, adding that Vecor’s goal is to show how fly ash can be engineered in precise directions for a wide range of unexpected applications.
The team’s vision is to show how this low-cost, waste material can be used as the basis for a range of new products for use in a host of high-performance products for which it has never been considered or trialled. These include using fly ash as a feedstock for high performance additives for:
- Paints
- Powder coatings
- Polymer matrix composites
- Ceramic matrix composites
While these applications involve partial or complete replacement of existing more expensive fillers, the team is also investigating fly ash as a reactive raw material for other large-scale applications, including:
- Refractories
- Geopolymers
Associate Professor Koshy said that each application has very specific demands placed on both the raw materials and their processing.
“This demands a highly iterative approach to problem-solving, and this is what keeps the work not only novel but also interesting!”