Reusing ash at Brunner Island

An ash processing facility that began operations at PPL’s Brunner Island power plant early last year has marked its first milestone.

Separation Technologies uses a patented process to remove carbon from ash. The ash is used as a replacement for cement in concrete. The carbon is reused as fuel in a nearby cement kiln.

“Working with Separation Technologies has given us another way to reuse a product once considered a waste material,” said Steve Marbaise, plant manager at Brunner Island. “We now have ways to beneficially use almost 100 percent of the coal ash here at Brunner Island.”

“As part of our agreement with PPL, we were scheduled to ship 100,000 tons of processed ash, marketed as ProAsh, from Feb, 1, 2007, to Jan. 31, 2008,” said Jason Huey, operations manager for Separation Technologies’ Brunner Island operation. “We shipped 106,947 tons, beating the mark by 7 percent, a good achievement for our first year.”

The Brunner Island plant produces about 330,000 dry tons of fly ash per year. PPL has used it to make an engineered groundfill material for construction projects including the neighboring community soccer fields and the Phoenix Links Golf Course.

Separation Technologies markets its ProAsh product to concrete makers in the Northeast. Its Brunner Island operation is its first Pennsylvania facility. Separation Technologies operates similar facilities at coal-fired power plants in five other states, Canada and the United Kingdom.