Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. is turning fly ash, once considered a waste byproduct of coal-fired power plants, into an environmentally safe construction material that can be used in place of soil for fill.

By mixing hydrated lime with fly ash, PP&L has created a material that is chemically stable and has many cement-like characteristics. PP&L has contracted with JTM Industries Inc., to market the material under the name Stabil-Fill.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which initially approved use of the material in mine reclamation projects, concurs with PP&L that Stabil-Fill is consistent with DEP guidelines for beneficial uses of coal ash.

"We are producing Stabil-Fill at our Montour power plant near Danville," said Rodney B. Keller, PP&L's community development director for the Bloomsburg area. "The product supports PP&L's pollution prevention objectives to reduce, reuse and recycle waste."

Within two years, PP&L plans to produce Stabil-Fill at two other coal-fired power plants, including the Sunbury plant in Shamokin Dam.

PP&L's coal-fired power plants generate about 1 million tons of coal ash each year. By using ash productively, PP&L is able to:

• Eliminate the need for future ash disposal facilities
• Reduce ash disposal costs
• Contribute to projects that restore old mine sites to their premined condition and support economic and community development

"Building and operating fly ash disposal facilities at our power plants is expensive. We're looking to reduce costs and find beneficial uses for coal ash, especially those that support development projects in Columbia and Montour counties," Keller explained.

The first construction uses of Stabil-Fill are at a commercial/light industrial site in Bloomsburg, a municipal building in Cooper Township and the Danville Airport in Riverside. 

Stabil-Fill has several advantages over soil as a construction fill material. It is more consistent and easier to work with than soil.

Fly ash is a fine, powdery byproduct of coal combustion. A common method of fly ash disposal involves mixing it with water, which is pumped to basins where the ash settles to the bottom. PP&L does not intend to build any more ash settling basins at its coal-fired power plants.

PP&L stopped using basins at the Montour plant in the early 1980s. By converting fly ash handling systems at its Sunbury plant and Brunner Island plant inYork County, PP&L will save an estimated 12 million gallons of water per day.