Coal mines and coal-fired plants, produce huge amounts of ash, which can be a serious threat to the environment. In this research, Coal waste from Agh Darband Coal Mine was converted to zeolite. For this purpose, the coal waste was first burnt at 1100 oC to produce ash. Then a hydrothermal method was applied to synthesis zeolite from coal waste ash. The hydrothermal treatment was carried out at 140 °C for different durations of 12, 18 and 24 hours in an aqueous NaOH solution. The chemical and structural properties of the synthesized material as well as its surface area was investigated using X ray florescence (XRF), X ray diffraction (XRD) and BET techniques. The results confirmed the successful synthesis of zeolite which mainly consisted of Na-P type (Na6Al6Si10O32·12H2O) and ANA (Analcime) type zeolites. It was also observed that an increase in the hydrothermal duration resulted in higher crystallization degree of ANA. The BET studies revealed a considerable increase in the surface area from 1.25 m2 g-1 for coal waste ash to 55.73 m2 g-1 for the produced zeolite synthesized at optimum conditions.

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