Coal-Fired Power Plants Find Innovative Solutions For Waste Disposal

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The following is an advisory by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). In these days of tight profit margins for operating power plants, it is more and more important for coal-fired power plant owners to find innovative solutions for waste disposal. What if you could make a useful product out of plant waste? Better yet, what if someone paid you money for it. Well, that's exactly what's happening with fly ash waste byproducts at many power plants across the country. Fly ash is a byproduct of the combustion of coal in a boiler. It is traditionally disposed of in onsite or offsite landfills at a significant cost to coal-fired power generators. However, several innovative uses for fly ash have been developed that offer cost saving alternatives to traditional disposal of fly ash waste product.

When used as an additive in concrete, fly ash makes the material more durable and wear resistant. The Department of Transportation has sponsored concrete with fly ash content for use in some of the nation's largest concrete projects. These issues are spurring a rash of fly ash processing and storage construction projects at or near power plants. Wisconsin Electric Power Company (NYSE:WEC)(Marquette, Wi) is nearing completion of a fly ash processing and storage project at its Presque Isle Power Station. The company operates nine coal-fired boilers at the station and produces about 100,000 tons of fly ash byproduct a year. Dynegy Incorporated (NYSE: DYN)(Houston, Tx) is proceeding with plans to construct a fly ash processing and storage project at its recently acquired Danskammer power station in Newburgh, New York. The project will include a carbon reburn system, silos, and material handling/loading systems.

Fly ash is also a major feedstock used in the production of aerated autoclaved concrete (AAC) products. AAC products have seen significant growth in the U.S. in recent years for use as a residential building block. Several new ACC manufacturing plants have been announced or are being planned. Most ACC plants are located near a source of fly ash production to reduce transportation costs. Industrial Information Resources is tracking several companies with plans to build or in the process of building AAC plants in the U.S. Babb International (Smyrna, Ga), Svanholm International (Providence, RI), and Enviroc Incorporated (Kingman, Az) are some of the companies persuing new AAC plants.