The enhancement of hydration of fluidized bed combustion ash by sonication

The use of limestone to control SO2 emissions in fluidized bed combustors (FBC) results in high CaO content in the ashes. This presents challenges for their disposal including significant exothermic behavior and uncontrolled expansion in the landfill. Hydration of the ashes is required to convert the CaO, but the current two-step hydration process is not very effective. In the present work a new technique using ultrasound to promote the hydration was examined. Initial work was done using an ultrasonic bath and subsequently an ultrasonic probe. Hydration levels greater than 80% in 20-40 min with amplitudes of 40% or more were achieved with residues containing high levels of CaO. This is about twice what can be achieved using conventional hydration technique. Similar results were obtained using FBC ashes from four utility/industrial scale and one pilot plant scale FBC units. The mechanism for the promotion of hydration bythe ultrasound is also explored.