PMI Ash Technologies, LLC - Providing Superior Solutions For Your Fly Ash Challenges
We've lately been emphasizing the plain fact that solid Coal Utilization Byproducts, typically called Fly Ash, though other sorts of Coal Ash do figure in, are valuable raw material resources, the enlightened use of which could lead to improved energy and environmental efficiencies in, especially, the cement and concrete industries; though other applications, in plastics and composites, also present significant potentials.
Herein, we want to begin to redress a lapse in our reportage, attributable to our varied personal disabilities, concerning an established and commercial vendor of Coal Ash, and of Coal Ash utilization technologies.
We have made note of PMI (aka Progress Materials Inc.) Ash Technologies, LLC, of Cary, North Carolina, previously, in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Virginia Converts Coal Ash to Cash | Research & Development; which contained, among other items presumably of Coal Country interest, information concerning: "South Carolina Electric and Gas Successful Application of Carbon Burn-Out (CBO) at the Wateree Station; 1999 International Ash Utilization Symposium; Center for Applied Energy Research, University of Kentucky; W.J. Frady, James Keppler and Jimmy Knowles; South Carolina Electric and Gas Company; Progress Materials, Inc.; and, Southeastern Ash Co., Inc.; CBO combusts residual carbon in fly-ash, producing a very consistent, low-carbon, high-quality pozzolan".
And, truth to tell, as we will attempt to demonstrate in future reports, there have been some changes and consolidations in the Coal Ash and cement industries, involving at least one other company with a similar name and acronym, that contributed to our confusion.
In any case, we focus herein not, perhaps strangely, on PMI, and their established, and now successfully commercial, technologies for the utilization of Coal Ash; but, on a study of one their technologies performed by our United States Environmental Protection Agency.
First, some excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch, to PMI's own web site, and their own description of their Coal Ash utilization activities:
"PMI Ash Technologies, LLC (PMI), provides economic ash management solutions through innovative technology. The Carbon Burn-Out (CBO) process eliminates fly ash disposal while creating a high-quality pozzolan for use in concrete. In addition to addressing solid waste issues, Carbon Burn-Out recovers residual carbon's valuable heat, measurably increasing the host utility's generation efficiency.
PMI's Carbon Burn-Out process is currently online at South Carolina Electric & Gas Wateree Station, Santee Cooper's Winyah Station, Dominion Energy Brayton Point Station, and Dominion Virginia Power Chesapeake Energy Center. The technology has been commercial since 1999 and has a combined processing capacity of approximately 1 million tons per year.
PMI also manages ash at the Crystal River plant in Florida. It produces a medium weight aggregate called Aardelite(R). The aggregate is used by customers in producing concrete masonry units and structural concrete that meets or exceeds all applicable standards. Overall fly ash utilization at Crystal River has averaged over 85% for the past 20 years."
Now, we are thus led to the meat of exposition herein.
Have you, has anyone in US Coal Country, ever heard of the Coal Ash-based concrete aggregate that PMI has, as above, trade-marked as "Aardelite"?
We hadn't, either, until now.
But, the United States Environmental Protection Agency had.
And, they have studied, with approval, use of that Coal Ash aggregate in the construction of concrete apartment buildings - in, no shinola, the Netherlands.
As seen via the immensely-complicated link:
which we hope still functions, we downloaded the document in case it doesn't, and will lead you to:
"Aardelite Technology: Turning a residue into a building material
United States Environmental Agency; Case Study 20; April, 2008
Aardelite pellets were used as natural gravel replacement for the construction of a housing compound consisting of 120 units for retired people at Dronten in the Netherlands.
The compound consists of multiple-story buildings and is surrounded by single-level houses.
In consultation with the Ministry of Housing, Land Development and Environmental Affairs and the owner, “Oostelijk Flevoland” Housing Corporation, it was decided that Aardelite gravel would be used in a number of houses to demonstrate the behaviour of Aardelite gravel in concrete construction. In order to compare the workability and final quality of Aardelite concrete to traditional concrete, the walls of four single level houses were made with Aardelite concrete; an identical block of four houses was made with traditional concrete.
The objective of this demonstration project was to prove that with the use of Aardelite gravel, the same concrete qualities would be met as with traditional natural gravel concrete, without special additives or
precautions. Both blocks of houses were executed with the same type and quantity of cement, the same reinforcement.
The workability of Aardelite concrete is good and comparable with natural gravel concrete; both concretes
have identical water/cement ratios. The workability of the Aardelite concrete when using a mobile concrete pump for pouring was excellent; in fact, due to the round shape of the Aardelite pellets, operation of the
pump was even smoother than with traditional concrete. Neither the foreman and workers on site nor the
operators of the ready mix concrete plant noticed any difference in workability between Aardelite concrete
and traditional concrete when weighing, dosing, or mixing in the ready mix concrete plant, or in pouring
using a bucket.
The strength development and final strength of Aardelite concrete is comparable with natural gravel concrete.
The building industry uses significant numbers of plugs and anchors. To judge the workability and behaviour of the different types of plugs and anchors in Aardelite concrete, the Fisher company performed a short study.
It was concluded that the behaviour and workability in both concrete types was the same, although drilling and cutting in Aardelite concrete is easier because Aardelite pellets are not as hard as natural gravel.
(We'll interrupt here to point out, that, not only is the Aardelite Coal Ash concrete easier to work with, it also has superior sound and heat insulation abilities than conventional concrete. The EPA measured those factors; and, it affirms the Coal Ash concrete to be superior, but does so in such a convoluted fashion, using only tables and charts, that is impossible to excerpt a plain statement of the fact.)
The Aardelite pellets used for this project were made from pulverized coal fly ash made available at a power station in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The composition of the Aardelite pellets was as follows:
Fly Ash 79.7%; Calcium Oxide 3.3%; Water 17.0%.
The pellets used in the concrete are made using the Aardelite process. The Aardelite technology is based on the activation and control of pozzolanic reactions in the fly ash/lime/water mixture by using the pozzolanic
properties of fly ash."
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Keep in mind that we have previously documented the use of Coal Ash in the manufacture of synthetic aggregates for concrete, as in:
Wyoming Markets Coal Ash-based Construction Aggregate | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 6,517,631 - Producing a Coal Combustion Ash Composition; 2003; Alan Bland, Wyoming: Abstract: This invention discloses a system for cold bond processing of combustion ash which enhances various characteristics of the resulting cured consolidated combustion ash materials. Specifically, the invention relates to processing techniques which enhances both density and strength of the of the consolidated combustion ash materials. The invention also relates to processing techniques which control various chemical reactions which assure that certain types of minerals are formed in the proper amounts which results in a cured consolidated combustion ash material which has greater dimensional stability and enhanced resistance to degradation. Embodiments for both normal weight and light weight combustion ash aggregates are disclosed which meet various ASTM and AASHTO specifications"; and:
Consol Converts Coal Ash to Concrete Aggregate | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 5,364,572 - Process for Making High-Strength Synthetic Aggregates; 1994;
We'll follow up in future reports with further description of the Fly Ash utilization technologies developed and employed by PMI Ash Technologies, LLC, themselves; technologies which the United States EPA, as herein, seems to find so beneficial for making replacements for natural or conventional aggregates in concrete construction, somewhere other than in the United States of America.
That shouldn't be taken as a slam against the US EPA. Keep in mind that they, as in our report of:
US EPA Headquarters Housed in Coal Ash | Research & Development; wherein we're told, in part, that: "fly ash has been used in concrete since the 1930’s. Most notably, it has been used in several construction projects and prominent buildings, including the Ronald Reagan Government Office building, home to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C.";
live in a building made out of Coal Ash.
We consider it to be a possibility that no one in the United States is using Coal Ash in such a way, in an application significant enough for someone like the US EPA to want to have a look at.
And, we do wonder why, especially in United States Coal Country, that would be the case.