Solid waste management in

Thermal power plants

Ashwini Sachindran

1MS15CH016
 Thermal power plants (TPPs) that burn fossil fuels emit several
pollutants linked to the environmental problems of acid rain, urban
ozone, and the possibility of global climate change. As coal is
burned in a power plant, its noncombustible mineral content is
partitioned into bottom ash, which remains in the furnace, and fly
ash, which rises with flue gases.
 Generation of thermal power plant
waste(coal fly ash)
• Fly ash is a by-product of pulverized coal combustion in thermal power
plants. Fly ash particles are light and have the potential to get airborne
and pollute the atmosphere. In India, the fly ash problem is of a huge
magnitude. With over 60% of power generation based on coal, often
containing nearly 40% ash, the country produces 80-100 MT (million
tonnes) of fly ash each year.
Collection & Segregation of coal fly ash
• Coal ash is discharged from a power plant's boiler are collected by
electrostatic precipitator or by fabric bag filter.

• Bottom ash is the slag that forms inside the boiler itself, then drops off
to the bottom due to gravity .
 Transportation of coal fly ash.

• Transportation is done either by road or by railways to the disposal site.

Transportation by rail is typically about 2.5-times cheaper than by road.
Hence, transportation costs would reduce considerably if the railways are
used extensively.
 Disposal of coal fly ash
• Nearly 85% of the fly ash generated in India is ‘disposed off using the lean
slurry disposal system where one part of ash and water is pumped through
pipes to an ash pond. This approach has several problems, including-

• Huge requirement of water

• Creation of wasteland (an estimated 28,000 hectares of land is already

under ash dumps)

• Health and environmental concerns associated with the likelihood of

leaching of heavy metals as well as air-borne ash.
Environmental effects of coal fly ash

• 1) Air pollution: High particulate matter emission levels rise due to

burning of coal which leads to generation of large quantity of fly
ash.
• 2) Water pollution: Mainly caused by the effluent discharge from
ash ponds.

• 3) Land degradation: About 100 million Tonnes of fly ash is

generated by use of coal for energy production. The disposal of
such large quantity of fly ash has occupied thousands hectares of
land which includes agricultural and forest land too.
 Health effects of coal fly ash

• When inhaled, lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, silica in coal ash can
cause damage to nervous system, lung diseases, kidney disease, high
blood pressure, delays in development, swelling of the brain, hemoglobin
damage.
 Ways of fly ash utilization

• Concrete production.

• Fly ash for bricks production.

• Cement clinkers(a substitute of material for clay).

THANK YOU