2001 PPL CHALLENGE #2
Determine how lime-stabilized dry fly ash can be used beneficially in the local communities and how it can be marketed.About PPL Corp:
Determine how lime-stabilized dry fly ash can be used beneficially in the local communities and how it can be marketed.About PPL Corp:
Based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, PPL Corp. (http://www.pplweb.com) is a FORTUNE 500 company that delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 1.3 million customers in Pennsylvania; markets wholesale energy in 43 U.S. states and Canada; generates electricity at power plants in Pennsylvania, Maine, and Montana; delivers electricity to 1.4 million customers in southwest Britain; and delivers electricity to more than 800,000 customers in Chile, Bolivia, and El Salvador.
PPL Corp. owns several power plants that burn bituminous coal for fuel. The finest ash left over from burning the coal is called fly ash. Most of the fly ash is collected dry and can have moisture and lime added, if desirable. Currently, fly ash is used in concrete, masonry block, flowable fill (lean concrete), backfilling strip mines, and structural fills. PPL Corp. produces enough dry fly ash from its Pennsylvania Plants to cover a football field over 300 feet high each year!
Pennsylvania residual waste regulations state that if the fly ash is stabilized with a small amount of lime or cement (at least 0.5%), it can be used beneficially without the regulations of landfilling it unstabilized. Lime/cement can cause the ash to harden like weak concrete. Lime is typically cheaper.
Since PPL Corp. produces so much fly ash that can be used by the community, PPL, Corp is always searching for beneficial uses. Currently, lime-stabilized fly ash is being used as structural fill in building golf courses, and has been used for soccer/athletic fields, airport runway extensions, bridge abutments, and parking lots.
The most expensive alternative to PPL Corp. is to landfill the fly ash. Other less costly uses involve trucking the ash twenty miles to a mine site for mine reclamation. PPL Corp. and the community can realize savings if the fly ash can be used beneficially while replacing a more costly material.
· Research the chemical characteristics of bituminous coal fly
ash.
· Research the characteristics of moisture-conditioned, lime-stabilized
fly ash.
· Research current uses for lime-stabilized fly ash through
contacts with other Electric Utilities, through ash marketing trade
organizations, through Utility Groups and Research Institutes, and University
research groups.
· Develop a list of unique possible uses for lime stabilized
fly ash.
· Interview communities about their needs and possible uses
for lime-stabilized fly ash.
· Determine how to educate and promote the use of lime stabilized
ash within communities around a power plant.
·American Coal Ash Association
·Electric Power Research Institute
·The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research
·Brown University
·The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for By-Products Utilization
·Fly Ash Research Center, Oak Park, Illinois
·New Jersey Institute of Technology
·Internet search under Fly Ash for Other Contacts
The student team is expected to demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of lime-stabilized fly ash and how it can be used beneficially in a cost-effective manner to PPL Corp. and the community. Students are encouraged to research creative and imaginative solutions other than those suggested. The team should present a marketing plan that will educate the community on lime-stabilized fly ash and promote its use. Students are expected to show results of a cost/benefit analysis as part of their presentation. Since costs can vary from region to region, the analysis should be specific to a power plant('s) region. Unique and creative ideas for beneficial uses are encouraged. Think outside the box!
If you are selected to give an oral presentation for this problem, the presentation will be held Thursday, March 29, 2001 at PPL Headquarters in Allentown, Pennsylvania. You will be given directions and an agenda later.