Assessment of Coal Fly Ash and it’s Applications in Bioremediation Technology
1Nidhi Upadhyay, 1Anuradha Dubey, 2Atish Kumar and 3Mridula Khandelwal
1Department of Botany, School of Science & Technology, Vardhman Mahaveer Open University, Kota - 324010 (India) 2Department of Mechanical Testing and Quality evaluation National Test House, Kolkata - 700091 (India) 3University of Kota, Kota - 324005 (India) *Corresponding author: E-mail: nidhiupadhyay278@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Fly ash is a by product of coal based thermal power plant. Management of this huge amount of fly ash is a great concern of environmental issues. Indian government mandated 100% utilization of ash in eco-friendly way. In this concern Kota Super Thermal Power Stations coal fly ash and soil from commercial agricultural land were collected. Physico-chemical analysis for various parameter were planned for both fly ash and soil samples. The comparative investigation revealed that fly ash of Kota Thermal Power Station possess good amount of Nitrogen (N), Sulfur (S), Silicon (Si), Aluminum (Al), Cobalt (Co), Molybdenum (Mo) etc. These elements play a dual role in plant growth and development. These components are essential at their optimum level but become toxic beyond a particular level. Hence fly ash can be used with commercial agricultural field’s soil in order to overcome its nutrient deficiency. Thus this paper aims to comprehensively understand the composition, toxicity and potential application of this industrial waste ash and emphasizes on sustainable utilization of this in bioremediation technology in order to immobilized toxic heavy metals and restores natural habitats and improve biodiversity.