Current trends in coal combustion product (CCPs) production and use
- American Coal Ash Association, Alexandria, VA (United States)
CCPs (Coal Combustion Products) are engineering materials that are similar in use to virgin, processed and manufactured materials. CCPs are produced when coal is burned in a boiler to generate electricity. The four types of CCPs produced by electric utility boilers are fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag and FGD (Flue Gas Desulfurization) material. CCPs rank behind only sand and gravel, and crushed stone as a produced mineral commodity, and rank ahead of Portland cement and iron ore. In 1997, 55% of the electricity was produced by coal fired electric utilities. This number is projected to remain fairly constant to the year 2015. Almost 90% of the coal used in the United States, is burned to generate electricity. During 1997, 898.5 million metric tons (870 million short tons) of coal were burned by electric utilities to generate electricity. As a result, over 95 million tons (105 million short tons) of CCPs were generated by the electric utilities. This figure promises to increase in the future, owing mostly to the anticipated rise in FGD material generation. The American Coal Ash Association, Inc. (ACAA) is a trade association representing the CCP Industry. ACAA promotes the use in CCPs in numerous applications that are technically sound, commercially competitive and environmentally safe. The data presented in this paper has been taken from the Annual Survey of CCP production and use by ACAA. ACAA conducts an annual voluntary, confidential, survey of US coal fired electric utilities to gather data about the production and use of CCPs. In 1997, the survey data collected accounts for approximately 80% of the coal burned by electric utilities. Information from previous ACAA surveys or US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Information Administration (EIA) data were used to estimate CCP production and use for utilities that did not respond to the survey. None of the data used was older than 1995.
- OSTI ID:
- 349080
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-980985--; ISBN 1-890977-15-2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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