Recent Advances in Methods for the Recovery of Carbon Nanominerals and Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons from Coal Fly Ash and Their Emerging Applications

Abstract

Coal fly ash is found to be one of the key pollutants worldwide due to its toxic heavy metal content. However, due to advancements in technology, coal fly ash has gained importance in various emerging fields. They are rich sources of carbonaceous particles which remain unburnt during burning of various coals in thermal power plants (TPPs). Various carbonaceous nanoparticles in the form of fullerenes, soot, and carbon nanotubes could be recovered from coal fly ash by applying trending techniques. Moreover, coal fly ash is comprised of rich sources of organic carbons such as polycyclic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons that are used in various industries for the development of carbon-derived value-added materials and nanocomposites. Here, we focus on all the types of carbon nanominerals from coal fly ash with the latest techniques applied. Moreover, we also emphasize the recovery of organic carbons in polyaromatic (PAHs) and polycyclic hydrocarbons (PCHs) from coal fly ash (CFA). Finally, we try to elucidate the latest applications of such carbon particle in the industry.

Recent Advances on Properties and Utility of Nanomaterials Generated from Industrial and Biological Activities

“…There are numerous researches where fly ash have been used either for the recovery of fullerenes or synthesis of fullerenes. Alam et al reported the recovery and synthesis of fullerenes from CFA [7]. The nature of such fullerenes are impure which could be processed further to obtain highly pure fullerene.…”

“…Paul et al synthesized BN co-doped CNT based nanoporous brushes for energy-based applications especially in the form of supercapacitors at elevated temperatures [156]. Maria et al emphasized the importance of polymers in the design of 3D CNTs-based scaffolds for biomedical purposes [7,157].…”

“…Nanomaterials are typically those materials having at least anyone dimension at the nanoscale (<100 nm). Nanomaterials can be produced in a variety of methods like chemical, physical and biological with different classes such as carbon-based nanomaterials: carbon-based nanomaterials [6,7], nanocomposites [8], metals, alloys, nanopolymers [9,10], nanoglassses [11], and nanoceramics [9,12]. Nanomaterials can be either synthesized in [11], and nanoceramics [9,12].…”

“…The nanomaterial derived from such processes are cost-effective [16], biocompatible [17] and environmentally friendly [13]. The waste materials that are commonly used for nanomaterial synthesis include industrial waste like fly ash [7,18], red mud, agricultural waste [19,20] (rice husk and straw, wheat husk and straw, coconut shell), and plastic waste [21,22]. Most of these waste materials mainly act as a pollutant to the environment, which are produced in tonnes annually around the globe.…”

State of Art Technology: Synthesis of Carbon Dots and Their Potential Applications in Biomedical, Research and Environmental Remediation

“…So, carbon particles especially carbon nanomaterials [8] have gained a huge attention, not only due to their biodegradable and less toxic nature, but also due to their easy surface functionalization. Recently, carbon dots (CD) have been optimistic, plentiful, low-cost [9] and have steadily become the performer throughout the Nano Carbon Dot community, prompting comprehensive research owing to the high opportunity for a variety of technological implementations [10].…”