Use of Fly Ash from Power Plant

Summary

Coal is used to fire the Western Power Kwinana Power Station. Fly ash is a by-product from the combustion of coal. Fly ash is transported as slurry to an offsite storage facility where the water and ash are separated with the remaining ash being stored in a quarry. Various initiatives have been undertaken to deal with the reuse of fly ash, including use in horticulture, as road building material, additive in concrete, and as filler in brick and tile manufacture. A proportion of the produced fly ash is currently used in the construction industry as raw material for bricks. The fly ash displaces the red clay used in manufacturing bricks.

Industry

Industry Sector	Specific Industry
energy utility sector	coal-fired power station
building and construction sector	brick manufacturer

Region

Kwinana Industrial Area, Kwinana, Western Australia

Applied Technologies

No information available on applied technologies.

Triple Bottom Line Aspects (direct at operational level)

Economic	increased company income reduced costs associated with stockpile of fly ash
Environmental	less fly ash being stockpiled reduced environmental risks associated with stockpile of fly ash avoided impacts from extraction of alternative raw materials for brick manufacturing
Social	employment increased employee and community satisfaction due to improved environmental performance of power station

Additional Comments

None.

References

• Kwinana Industries Council (2005) "Existing Synergies Examples", Retrieved from: http://www.kic.org.au/Synergies.asp
• van Beers, D, Bossilkov, A and van Berkel, R (2005) “Capturing Regional Synergies in the Kwinana Industrial Area – 2005 Status Report”, CSRP Report (for Project 3B1), August 2005

Last Update

20 July 2010