Displaying items by tag: Fly Ash

Australia: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed an appeal against a US$12.6m fine against Cement Australia, which it views is too low. On 16 May 2016 a Federal Court published orders imposing a penalty of US$13.7m on the cement producer. One order was then set aside, reducing the fine to US$12.6m. However, the ACCC contends that a penalty of over US$66m is more appropriate for the breaches of Australia’s competition legislation.

“The ACCC will argue to the Full Court that the penalties imposed on Cement Australia are manifestly inadequate, and not of appropriate deterrent value,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims. He added that suitable financial penalties were considered ‘essential’ as a deterrent to anti-competitive conduct and to prevent businesses viewing such behaviour as an acceptable cost of doing business.

The proceedings relate to contracts that were entered into by Cement Australia companies between 2002 and 2006 with four power stations in South East Queensland, to acquire fly ash. The court found numerous contraventions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It also fined Christopher White, a manager in the Cement Australia fly ash business during the relevant period, a penalty of US$14,700 for his involvement in making the contravening contracts with the operator of the Swanbank power station in 2005.

UK: Lucideon has benefited from a newly published standard by the British Standards Institution (BSI) for alkali-activated cementitious material and concrete. The materials technology company has been developing and applying its proprietary MIDAR technology based on alkali-activated cements for several years. A recognised building standard gives it a stronger route to market in Europe.

“With the help of our materials experts, manufacturers can develop products using alkali-activated cement technology. This could potentially improve the performance and reduce the raw material costs and carbon footprints of products,” said Rebecca Law, a development scientist at Lucideon.

Lucideon develops materials technologies for a range of industries including construction, healthcare and nuclear sectors. MIDAR is a technology that binds alkalis and aluminosilicate materials, such as those from waste streams including fly ash and blast furnace slags, to form a rigid inorganic material. This technology can be used to make solid or aerated building products.

India: Kiran Global Chems has launched Geocement, an environmentally-friendly branded cement. The company claims that the product is stronger than Ordinary Portland Cement and that it does not require water for mixing or curing, according to local media.

Geocement is made from Geopowder and Geobinder, other products also made by Kiran Global Chems. Geopowder uses industrial by-products such as fly ash, rice husk ash, slag, activated clay and alumina. At construction sites it can be mixed with the company's proprietary Geobinder liquid and aggregates to make concrete. The company claims that Geocement does not require water curing and attains maximum strength within seven hours. Kiran Global Chems has also launched Geocrete, a Geocement concrete made with its powder and binder for various industrial applications.

"We have started distributing this to the bulk customers, such as builders and now we are launching the brand for retail. We are planning to sell it through e-commerce," said M S Jain, chairman of Kiran Global Chems. The price of Geocement will be slightly higher than normal cement, but it promises lower finished building cost and less construction time and labour. The company intends to target southern Indian states in 2016.

Kiran Global is also preparing a US$29m expansion programme to set up 12 Geobinder units, 12 Geopowder plants, two precast concrete units and four grinding units across the country. The expansion, is intended to cut logistics cost, will result in 4Mt of capacity with a potential turnover of up to US$300m by the 2018 – 2019 financial year. The company has an in-house research and development centre, accredited by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, and has been conducting geopolymer research in collaboration with leading research institutes.

Vietnam: According to Vietnam News Brief Service, deputy prime minister Hoang Trung Hai has agreed to allow Nghi Son Cement Corporation to continue the pilot import of fly ash as a raw material for its cement production.

The deputy prime minister had earlier agreed to allow Nghi Son Cement Corporation to import no more than 200,000t/yr of fly ash in 2015 - 2016. He also requested the company to develop a plan to use domestic fly ash for cement production from 2017.

Vietnam has a huge supply of fly ash. It is estimated that the thermal power plants in Vietnam produce 4.5Mt/yr of fly ash. The figure is expected to hit 35Mt/yr in 2030. According to Vietnam News Brief Service, agencies, companies and localities have not shown their willingness to share interests with others, leading to fly ash sourcing difficulties for many companies.

US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the first national regulations to provide for the safe disposal of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. The ruling establishes safeguards to protect communities from coal ash impoundment failures and establishes safeguards to prevent groundwater contamination and air emissions from coal ash disposal.

"The EPA is taking action to protect our communities from the risk of mismanaged coal ash disposal units and putting in place safeguards to help prevent the next catastrophic coal ash impoundment failure, which can cost millions for local businesses, communities and States," said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

The new federal regulations include:

• The closure of surface impoundments and landfills that fail to meet engineering and structural standards and will no longer receive coal ash;
• Reducing the risk of catastrophic failure by requiring regular inspections of the structural safety of surface impoundments;
• Restrictions on the location of new surface impoundments and landfills so that they cannot be built in sensitive areas such as wetlands and earthquake zones;
• Protecting groundwater by requiring monitoring, immediate clean up of contamination and closure of unlined surface impoundments that are polluting groundwater;
• Protecting communities using fugitive dust controls to reduce windblown coal ash dust;
• Requiring liner barriers for new units and proper closure of surface impoundments and landfills that will no longer receive coal combustion residues.

In response to feedback on the proposal, the ruling clarifies the technical requirements for coal ash landfills and surface impoundments under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the country's primary law for regulating solid waste. Implementation of the technical requirements will be reported through disclosure to States, and communities. Examples of this include power plants providing information to the public and States and new transparency requirements, including recordkeeping and reporting requirements, as well as the requirement for each facility to post specific information to a publicly-accessible website. This final rule also supports the responsible recycling of coal ash by distinguishing safe, beneficial use from disposal.

India: In response to local concerns over the open-filling of fly-ash, an NTPC-owned thermal power plant in Kahalgaon, Bihar will install bagging machines for its fly-ash production. The facility provides fly-ash to cement makers in the northeast and is setting up six packing machines filling a total of 4800bags/hr or 4000t/day. The facility had been warned by the pollution control board, which has asked NTPC to deposit US$16,243 as security against the prescribed environmental measures. The board has said that the plant will be closed if it continues to violate the 'norms' by open-filling the sacks.

Qatar: Four Qatari companies have shown interest in buying fly ash from Tata Power, which operates a 4000MW plant in Mundra, Gujarat, India. The plant consumes about 40,000t/day of imported coal and generates around 1600t/day of fly ash. Currently two cement makers in Gujarat and one from Rajasthan collect 100 – 200t/day of fly ash from the Mundra plant.

India: Shree Cement plans to set up a 3Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Odapada in Dhenkanal District, Odisha State for about US$76.6m. The location will enable the cement maker to utilise the fly ash produced at the power plants owned by Lanco Badband Power, GMR Kamalanga, Navabharat Ventures and Bhushan Steel based in the region. The plant will be built on an area covering 0.24km² of land which will be allotted by the district administration on Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation's request.

Japan: Nippon Paper Industries has announced that it will jointly launch a new project with Zerotechno, located in Oita city, to produce and sell fly ash to the cement industry. Both companies will establish the Nippon Paper Zerotechno Tohoku limited liability partnership on 1 July 2014, which is to be based at the site of Nippon Paper Ishinomaki Mill in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture. The purpose of the project is to contribute to restoration of Tohoku district from the earthquake disaster by expanding use of carbon-free fly ash derived from coal ash that coal-fired boilers emit at Ishinomaki Mill.

US: Titan America has announced that it has recently formed ST Equipment & Technology LLC (STET), in order to further expand the development of its separation technology in fly ash and mineral applications worldwide. STET will be based in Needham, Massachussetts, US.

Mike Allen, who recently joined the Titan family of businesses, will serve as STET's President. His experience spans 30 years in international mining and minerals equipment and operations, most recently as Komatsu America Corp's Vice President of International Sales. He reports to current Titan America CEO, Aris Papadopoulos, who will become STET's Executive Chairman on 1 August 2014.