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SAHARA TIMES, 04 FEB 2006

February - 06

HE00

ECO FRIENDLY ASH MOUND

NTPC, Dadri, finds a way to save the environment from pollution caused by fly ash
Neetu Chandra / New Delhi
UCLEAR WASTE, e-waste, heavy metal waste, plastic waste-industrialisation and environmental pollution are two inseparable twins. Adding to the list is yet another form of pollutant-fly ash. Fly ash is a bi-product of thermo-electric power plants. Keeping the environment safety in view, the national capital power station of the NTPC has come up with an innovative way of using fly ash commercially. NTPC at its Dadri power station has set up a 100 per cent dry ash extraction-cum-disposal project, which has resulted in progressive development of a green belt besides far less requirement of land and water as compared to the wet ash disposal system.

Under the dry ash technology, fly ash is collected in huge mounds with a filter bed provided at the bottom of it. Grass is planted on the slopes of the fly ash mound and polymer layering is done to prevent the ash from being blown by the wind. Fly ash treated by this method develops certain physical properties that make it suitable for commercial use. In India, 65 per cent of the total installed power generation is coal-based and 230 250 million metric tonnes (MT) coal is used every year. As a result, around 95 million MT of ash is generated every year. It is estimated that the ash generation is likely to reach 170 million MT by 2010. Presently ash ponds occupy 65,000 acres of land. About 73 per cent of India's total installed power generation capacity is thermal, of which coal-based generation is 90 per cent the remaining comprising diesel, wind, gas,

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and steam. The 85 utility thermal power stations, besides the several captive power plants, use bituminous and sub-bituminous coal and produce large quantities of fly ash. High ash content (30 per cent -50 per cent) contributes to these large volumes of fly ash. "The ash mound eliminates leaching effect and has a separate system for storage of pulverized fly ash and furnace bottom ash. It facilitates large-scale utilisation at a later stage," said A K Saxena, deputy manager, PR. The height of the ash mound in Dadri, constructed on 375 acres of land is 55 meters having a side slope of 1:4 with a haulage road at 15 m interval. The ash mound is sufficient for running 840 mega watt (MW) power for 40 years. The station is first in the country to incorporate dry ash disposal technique. "The extraction and disposal of 180 tonnes of ash produced every hour in wet slurry condition An ash collection unit at NTPC, Dadri would have required a huge land area for construction of an ash dyke," said Saxena. method develops certain physical properties age of dust that escapes the ESP. The neutral"The dry ash is conditioned with water and that makes it more suitable in the making of ized effluent is directed to a sediment action a sprinkler system conbricks and cement," said A K basin, and after sedimentation, the clear trols dust emission. The Mathur, head, ash utilisation water is re-cycled by taking it to the water hillocks formed out of the division, NTPC. reservoir. consolidated ash are In order to acrest all fly ash The wet system of disposal in most power eliminates leaching landscaped with flora and fugitive dust from the plants causes discharge of ash directly into the, effect and has that survives on the relaboiler, electrostatic precipita- nearby surface water system. The long storage tively hostile terrain. The tors with an efficiency of of ash in ponds under wet condition and a separate system ash mound has a capaci99.94 per cent have been humid climate can cause leaching of toxic for storage of ty to store 53 million attached to each generating metals from ash and contaminate the underlycubic meter of ash. It can unit. The discharge of gas is ing soil and ultimately the groundwater. The pulverized fly have a height of 55 through a 225-meter high dry ash disposal system minimizes this by meter with a top surface metal multi-flue chimney, incorporating engineering measures in the ash and furnace area of 140 acres. The fly which facilitates a wider dis- design of ash ponds and continuous monitor bottom ash ash treated by this posal of the small percent- ing of surface and groundwater systems.

T h e ash mound

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URBAN ENVIRONMENT