Recent high-profile incidents surrounding ash pond failures are forcing coal power plants to re-evaluate wet ash handling practices. Utility companies still using ash retention ponds to store ash by-product have important choices as they look to replace wet systems with dry solutions. Over the past few decades United Conveyor Corporation (UCC) has assisted many utilities in converting from wet fly ash handling to dry systems based on these market trends and factors:
• In conjunction with the Powder River Basin fuel-switching initiatives
• As local markets emerged, enabling the reuse and sale of fly ash to concrete suppliers
• To extend the pond life for bottom ash storage of capacity-constrained ponds.
As of 2008, nearly 67% of plants with ash ponds have converted to dry fly ash systems, while only 10% of bottom ash systems are dry.
Public scrutiny, environmental concerns and pending government regulations may further shift the industry to dry or reduced water consumption alternatives. Increased focus on converting wet bottom ash systems is expected to eliminate legacy ash ponds. State-of-the-art ash handling systems from UCC offer greater equipment reliability and the broadest range of customized solutions to better serve removal operations.
United Conveyor recently had an article on Wet-To-Dry Conversions in CoalPower magazine.
Click here to read it.
Fly Ash Systems
Dry fly ash conveying has become the standard for new installations and retrofits over the last few decades. Since 1920, UCC has engineered thousands of fly ash handling installations in over 50 countries. Retrofitting an existing wet HYDROVEYOR® system into a dry fly ash system is completed with the addition of a few system components.
Using our technical experience, breadth of systems and products, UCC works directly with customers to find the right solution to address current and future environmental regulation requirements. The options include the NUVEYOR® Vacuum System, Combination Vacuum/Pressure System (NUVA FEEDER® for medium phase or DEPAC® for dense phase materials) or Pressure System.
Bottom Ash Systems
United Conveyor offers the broadest range of state-of-the-art dry bottom ash handling solutions. Four different system types – Hydraulic, Mechanical, Pneumatic and Vibratory – have been developed to address the particular characteristics of each individual power plant. With hundreds of installations and nearly 90 years of experience, UCC provides the confidence and peace of mind our customers demand. All of the below options eliminate the need for ash storage ponds.