The phase composition of coal combustion ashes is important in regard
to their potential uses. Here it is shown that a combination of phase
separation techniques with X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analys
is, and conventional chemical analysis, including elemental analysis a
nd wet chemistry, can be used to obtain a fairly complete phase compos
ition. The application of these techniques is illustrated with an FBC
ash sample, indicating the procedures used to achieve the identificati
on of calcium silicates, aluminates and ferrites, and their quantitati
ve estimates. A new method for the quantitative determination of CaO i
n presence of large amounts of Ca(OH)(2) has been developed which uses
phase separation as a previous step to chemical titration.