A Review on Methods of Cenosphere Separation from Fly Ash

Cenospheres are valuable material contained inside the fly ash. Its low weight, low density, and high strength made it very versatile and can be used in various fields. The way of separating the cenosphere from the fly ash consists of two categories, wet and dry separation. For wet separation, it involves submerging the fly ash inside a mixture made either by pure acetone, pure water, or a mixture of water and acetone with different mixing ratios before stirring the mixture. The cenospheres, floating on top of the mix due to low density, can be collected and dried. The dry separation technique involves putting the fly ash into a cyclone separator at a constant velocity. The fly ash will then move into the bottom of the cyclone. Particles can also be separated by diameter sizes by sieving. By manipulating various parameters, cenosphere yield may differ. This paper is written to help gain more understanding on cenosphere properties and its separation method.