Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2022 number 5

A systematic study of the relationship between the composition and structure of skeletal-dendritic ferrospheres isolated from fly ash formed in the combustion of Ekibastuz coal, carried out by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), allowed us to establish the general routes of their formation and the peculiarities of the influence of mineral precursors on their structure. The groups of globules were distinguished exhibiting a linear correlation between the content of silicon, iron and aluminium oxides in the gross composition of the polished sections. It is shown that the investigated ferrospheres are formed from the melt droplets of the general FeO-SiO₂-Al₂O₃-CaO system during their cooling and crystallization of individual phases. The formation of melt droplets occurs due to the sequential transformation of dispersed products from thermal conversion of mineral precursor associates, such as siderite, quartz, calcite and aluminosilicate components in the carbon matrix. The aluminosilicate precursor determining the structure of globules is hydromica of illite group. The crystallization of the ferrospinel of skeletal-dendritic globules occurs due to the “seed” of Al,Mg-ferrospinel, which is formed as a result of the thermochemical transformation of the illite of the initial coals. The observed general trend to changes in the structure of ferrospheres from coarse-grained crystalline skeletal type to fine-crystalline skeletal-dendritic globules is explained by a decrease in the content of the main spinel-forming oxides FeO, Al₂O₃ and MgO in the melt microdroplets.