POTENTIAL FOR THE USE OF ASH AND SLAG FROM COAL-FIRED THERMAL POWER PLANTS FOR PRODUCTION OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF ASH AND SLAG FROM LADYZHYNSKA THERMAL POWER PLANT)

Abstract

The combustion of coal to generate electricity at coal-fired power plants results in the production of a sub-product, ash and slag. It is a mixture of non-combustible mineral particles from the fuel and the remains of unburned coal. The growing demand for electricity, especially in developing countries, is leading to an increase in coal ash and slag production, which currently amounts to about 1 billion tons per year. Awareness of the dangers of accumulating such large volumes of industrial waste is stimulating interest in ash and slag utilization technologies by using them to correct industrial landscapes, build roads, and as a cheap aggregate and component of concrete mixtures. However, it seems much more promising to utilize ash and slag through deep processing with separation into separate components: fly ash, unburned carbon, and iron oxide concentrate, which have wide markets and high enough value to make the ash processing process economically attractive. A particular interest is the production of fine carbon concentrate, which is a promising intermediate product for the production of water-coal fuel, a substitute for fuel oil and crude oil in the energy sector. Bibl. 19, Fig. 3, Tab. 4.