Mechanism of mechanical-chemical synergistic activation for preparation of mullite ceramics from high-alumina coal fly ash

High-alumina coal fly ash (HAFA) is a special solid waste due to the existence of more than 45% alumina and 35% silica, which can be applied to prepare Al-Si series ceramics if the impurities can be removed and the Al/Si mass ratio can exceed 2.55 (Mullite: 3Al2O3.2SiO2). In this work, a new mechanical-chemical synergistic activation-desilication process is proposed, and the contents of different impurities can be lowered up to less than 1%, and the Al/Si mass ratio can be elevated from 1.26 to 2.71. Especially, the mechanism of this process is investigated in detail. The analysis of the mechanism shows that the decrease of Q4(3Al) and the increase of Q4(0Al), Q4(1Al), and Q4(2Al) improve amorphous silicate reactivity through synergistic activation, and the exposed amorphous Si-O-/Si-O-Si can be removed by OH- during the desilication process (desilicated ratio>55%), which help the fine mullite to exhibit excellent properties (bulk density > 2.85 g/cm3, apparent porosity < 0.5%) during the sintering process. Finally, this process not only decreases the pollution but also alleviates the shortage of Al/Si resources and promotes the clean development of coal-fired power generation.