26
High
Volume Utilization of Fly Ash Containing Mercury-Impregnated Activated Carbon—Ceramatec,
Inc., 2425 South 900 West, Salt Lake City, UT
84119-1517; 801-978-2114
Dr.
Chett Boxley, Principal Investigator, cboxley@ceramatec.com
Mr.
Raymond K. Miller, Business Official, rkm@ceramatec.com
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-05ER84197
Amount:
$745,910
In
March of 2005, the EPA published final regulations to control mercury emissions
from coal-fired electric utilities. The
most mature retrofit technology available for mercury collection is the
injection of a sorbent such as powdered activated carbon. Unfortunately,
carbon injection technology is accompanied by high concentrations of mercury in
the fly ash, (an important by-product that is used in concrete), which renders
the fly ash unacceptable for concrete use. This
project will develop reaction-bonded, castable ceramic materials, made with high
carbon/mercury content fly ash, that can replace concrete in commercially viable
applications. In
Phase I, it was demonstrated that various types of fly ash, containing excess
activated carbon and mercury could be made into strong reaction-bonded, castable
ceramic materials through the selection of activators, water content, and curing
temperature. The reaction not only
generated strong bonding materials, but effectively encapsulated both the
mercury and activated carbon, rendering the new cement composition
environmentally benign and suitable for use in various concrete applications. Phase
II will further characterize and optimize the engineering properties of the
materials, including compressive strength, workability, freeze-thaw resistance,
indirect tensile strength, elastic constants, etc. These
properties will be compared against the standards developed for current fly ash
concrete and Portland cement based concrete.
Commercial
Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The
new materials would allow fly ash to remain useful and marketable, even after
the adoption of mercury control technologies by coal-fired power plants. The
use of this reaction-bonded material also would minimize emissions of greenhouse
gases by minimizing the demand for Portland cement-based concrete.