Scientist Discovers New Use for Industrial Fly Ash
- NTD Television May 30th, 2011
- Source: http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_asia/2011-05-30/scientist-discovers-new-use-for-industrial-fly-ash.html
Coal-firing plants which burn coal to generate electricity produce a residue waste material called fly ash.
The dust-like substance is China's single biggest source of solid industrial waste.
Dr. Nikhil Gupta is Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn.
He has found a way to use fly ash with metals like aluminum or magnesium to make a material that can be used in a number of applications, including the manufacture of automobile parts.
Gupta says fly ash particles are ceramic-based and some are hollow and almost geometrically round.
[Dr. Nikhil Gupta, Assoc. Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NYU Polytechnic Institute]: "This fly ash in metal, just like a cake mix. And then we can use this mixture to cast a part that we need. So it can be a small engine cover or it can be a sump cover or an engine mount."
