Abstract: Global energy demand is set to increase by almost 50% in the period 2016 to 2040. Much of this growth will continue to be concentrated in the developing world, primarily China and India, as industrialization, population growth and the unprecedented expansion of the middle class will propel the need for energy in general and coal, in particular. The Indian coal is of low grade having high ash content of the order of 30-45% producing large quantity of fly ash at coal/lignite based thermal power stations in the country. The management of fly ash has been troublesome in view of its disposal because of its potential of causing pollution of air and water. To minimize such effects Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (GoI) has given approval to use fly ash for backfilling of opencast mines, stowing of abandoned mines and filling of low laying areas. All the heavy metals found in fly ash—nickel, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, lead, etc—are toxic in nature. They leach into the surrounding soil and can enter food-chains, ground water. Proposed study incorporates ash leachate analysis using laboratory method. This study aims to identify trend of toxic metals in leachate solution of different mix proportion of mine overburden and fly ash.

Keywords: Fly ash, leachate, mine overburden.

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2021.8546