Patent ID: 8609189

Claim:
A method of forming carbon nanotubes from ultrasonically treated carbon-rich fly ash of burned heavy oil from desalination plants and power plants, comprising the steps of: providing carbon-rich fly ash of burned heavy oil from desalination plants and power plants; ultrasonically treating the carbon-rich fly ash to produce an ultrafine powdered ash, wherein the hybridization for each carbon is sp2, the ultrasonic treatment includes the steps of: dissolving the carbon-rich fly ash in water to form a solution; sonicating the solution for about five hours; separating the ultrafine powdered ash from the solution; and drying the ultrafine powdered ash; and reacting the ultrafine powdered ash in a low pressure chemical vapor deposition reactor to form carbon nanotubes, the reacting step further comprises the step of introducing a carrier gas into the reactor when the temperature of the reactor reaches about 700° C., wherein the carrier gas is at least nitrogen.