Fly Ash Recycling
Keeping the planet green
Defining Fly Ash
At the Deerhaven Generating Station, coal is burned to fuel our Unit #2. A by-product of the coal combustion process is a fine powdery substance known as fly ash.
Collecting Fly Ash
Once burned, the ash becomes part of the flue (exhaust) gas and passes through a large compartment called an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). The ESP has positive and negative charged plates and wires that, when energized, attract and remove the fly ash particles from the flue gas.
Recycling Fly Ash
The two options for disposing fly ash are:
- Mixing the ash with water for transport to an on-site secure landfill
- Dry unloading it into tanker trucks
Fly ash is an excellent bonding agent when mixed with cement. GRU currently contracts with a vendor that dry unloads 95 percent of our ash for use in off-site cement products. Another vendor mines the ash stored on our landfill for use at another cement plant. This reclaiming process reduces the need for additional landfill storage.
