EPA honors PPL for re-use of coal ash

PPL’s beneficial use of 100 percent of the coal ash produced at its Montour and Brunner Island power plants has earned the company national recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. PPL accepted the EPA’s Coal Combustion Products partnership award at a ceremony July 2 in Alexandria, Va.

“Through the Coal Combustion Products Partnership enhanced utilization award, the EPA recognizes PPL’s achievement in reusing 100 percent of its coal combustion products at the Montour and Brunner Island plants,” said Matt Hale, director of the agency’s Office of Solid Waste.

The award recognizes PPL Generation for reaching this mark, through the efforts of PPL employees who found an innovative way to cut in half the amount of soil needed for various projects around its power plants by mixing it with equal portions of bottom ash, a byproduct of coal power production.

Although PPL’s Coal Combustion Products group began using bottom ash as a soil additive in 2002, last year was the first time 100 percent of the coal ash produced from the Montour and Brunner Island plants in Pennsylvania was used for beneficial purposes.

“We’re proud of this award, which credits the efforts of PPL employees who continue to look for creative ways to put what was once considered a waste material to good use,” said Larry LaBuz, PPL’s Coal Combustion Products supervisor. “We’re one of the few coal-fired generation companies to be ahead of the EPA’s voluntary recommendation to increase the percentage of coal ash that companies use beneficially to 50 percent by 2012.”

Last year, PPL used the 50-50 soil blend on a number of company projects at the plants and in the communities around them. The soil mixture retains water better than natural soil, so it’s ideal for growing grass and improving an area’s aesthetics, LaBuz said. It’s also basically inert, so it won’t harm the environment.

In addition to environmental and economic benefits to using bottom ash as a partial soil substitute, the improvements in soil drainage and aeration are expected to improve plant health and disease resistance.

Vegetation supported by the soil also helps blend the ash basins at Montour and Brunner Island into their natural environments.

Stabil-Fill™ has also been an important component of PPL’s ash recycling program.

A soillike material created from fly ash mixed with hydrated lime and water, Stabil-Fill has been used in industrial developments and for the runway expansion at Danville Airport and to build a soccer field and parking lot at the Washingtonville baseball park.

Stabil-Fill, first developed by PPL in 1995, has also been used to build rifle ranges and livestock feed pads, and in mine reclamation and landfill closing projects.