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NEW YORK, NY — A toxic byproduct from coal plants has been used by researchers to make metal foams that are just as strong as aluminum, but lighter.
A team at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University used fly ash as an additive in metal foams designed to replace solid aluminum and magnesium in certain vehicle parts.
More than half of the 70 million tons of fly ash created by coal combustion a year ends up in landfills. Many cement companies have been using fly ash to make concrete stronger and with less cement.
The university's Composites Materials and Mechanics Laboratory mixed fly ash with molten aluminum and magnesium, creating a porous metal foam due to the hollow particles in the fly ash.
The team says the resulting materials are lighter than their solid versions and absorb more energy in situations like car crashes.
The foam metals are ideal, the team says, for non-load-bearing automotive parts like engine and wheel covers, as well as other consumer goods like street signs, benches, light posts and doorknobs. Not only would using metal foams in place of solid metal use fewer raw materials, it would also make vehicles lighter.
The NYU team and collaborators from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee reported on their work in the Journal of Metals.
Power plant - CC license by jonasclemens
Coal ash “is” toxic when not
Coal ash “is” toxic when not properly encapsulated in products such as cement.
Coal ash toxics have the potential to injure all of the major organ systems, damage physical health and development, and even contribute to mortality. (Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sept. 2010)
Most environmental organizations prefer recycling coal ash in proven environmentally safe ways. Please help us protect human health and the environment by labeling all coal ash “not” recycled in proven environmentally safe ways as “toxic” and securing federally enforceable common sense minimum safeguards for the disposal of all unencapsulated coal ash.
Sam: Unless you are licking
Sam: Unless you are licking these auto parts, then "toxicity" has no relevance here. Toxicity must be determined by exposure route, and there are no possible routes other than putting this stuff into your mouth. How likely is that to happen with auto parts?
Coal ash is not "toxic." The
Coal ash is not "toxic." The careless repetition of this label is starting to destroy one of the most beneficial recycling efforts in America.
Coal ash contains trace amounts of metals, just like most materials you encounter in everyday life. (For example: compact fluorescent light bulbs, dental fillings, daily multivitamin pills, etc.) The levels of metals in coal ash are similar to or lower than the metals present in the materials coal ash replaces when it is recycled. Those metals are only "toxic" if they have a way to get out of the ash and into you in sufficient quantities to cause harm.
Citizens for Recycling First supports recycling coal ash as a safe, environmentally preferable alternative to disposal. Please help us protect practices that keep millions of tons of coal ash out of landfills, conserve natural resources, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by millions of tons per year. Please help us by not falsely labeling all coal ash as "toxic."