A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF POST-COMBUSTION AMMONIA INJECTION ON FLY ASH QUALITY: CHARACTERIZATION OF AMMONIA RELEASE FROM CONCRETE AND MORTARS CONTAINING FLY ASH AS A POZZOLANIC ADMIXTURE
The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 require large reductions in emissions of NO{sub x} from coal-fired electric utility boilers. This will necessitate the use of ammonia injection, such as in selective catalytic reduction (SCR), in many power plants, resulting in the deposition of ammonia on the fly ash. The presence of ammonia could create a major barrier to fly ash utilization in concrete because of odor concerns. Although there have been limited studies of ammonia emission from concrete, little is known about the quantity of ammonia emitted during mixing and curing, and the kinetics of ammonia release. This is manifested as widely varying opinions within the concrete and ash marketing industry regarding the maximum acceptable levels of ammonia in fly ash. Therefore, practical guidelines for using ammoniated fly ash are needed in advance of the installation of many more SCR systems. The goal of this project was to develop practical guidelines for the handling and utilization of ammoniated fly ash in concrete, in order to prevent a decrease in the use of fly ash for this application. The objective was to determine the amount of ammonia that is released, over the short- and long-term, from concrete that contains ammoniated fly ash. The technical approach in this project was to measure the release of ammonia from mortar and concrete during mixing, placement, and curing. Work initially focused on laboratory mortar experiments to develop fundamental data on ammonia diffusion characteristics. Larger-scale laboratory experiments were then conducted to study the emission of ammonia from concrete containing ammoniated fly ash. The final phase comprised monitoring ammonia emissions from large concrete slabs. The data indicated that, on average, 15% of the initial ammonia was lost from concrete during 40 minutes of mixing, depending on the mix proportions and batch size. Long-term experiments indicated that ammonia diffusion from concrete was relatively slow, with greater than 50% of the initial ammonia content remaining in an 11cm thick concrete slab after 1 month. When placing concrete in an enclosed space, with negligible ventilation, it is recommended that the ammonia concentration in the concrete mix water should not exceed 110 mg NH{sub 3}/L, if the NIOSH exposure limit of 25 ppm in the air is not to be exceeded. If even a modicum of ventilation is present, then the ammonia concentration in the concrete water should be less than 170 mg/L. The maximum level of ammonia in the fly ash can then be calculated using these limits if the concrete mix proportions are known. In general, during the mixing and placement of ammonia-laden concrete, no safety concerns were encountered. The only location where the ammonia concentration attained high levels (i.e. > 25 ppm in the air) was within the concrete mixing drum.
- Research Organization:
- University of Kentucky Research Foundation (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-00NT40908
- OSTI ID:
- 834172
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 30 Oct 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF POST-COMBUSTION AMMONIA INJECTION ON FLY ASH QUALITY: CHARACTERIZATION OF AMMONIA RELEASE FROM CONCRETE AND MORTARS CONTAINING FLY ASH AS A POZZOLANIC ADMIXTURE
A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF POST-COMBUSTION AMMONIA INJECTION ON FLY ASH QUALITY: CHARACTERIZATION OF AMMONIA RELEASE FROM CONCRETE AND MORTARS CONTAINING FLY ASH AS A POZZOLANIC ADMIXTURE