Fly Ash Mission - TIFAC Fly Ash Utilisation Programme (FAUP), a Technology Project in Mission Mode of Government of India

commissioned during 1994, is a joint activity of Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Power (MOP) and Ministry of Environment & Forests (MOEF), wherein Department of Science & Technology is the nodal agency and Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) is the implementing agency. In India, large quantities of fly ash are being generated, as most of our energy demand is met through coal based thermal power stations. The fly ash generation is expected to grow further as coal would continue to remain as major source of energy at least for next 25 years. The fly ash, which is a resource material, if not managed well, may pose environmental challenges. FAUP has been undertaking various projects/activities for technology development/demonstration, disseminating the information, creating awareness, facilitating multiplier effects, providing inputs for policy interventions etc. in the area of safe management & gainful utilization of fly ash. Completed Projects 1. Dry Fly Ash - Effective Collection and Bagging System The availability and eco-friendly transportation of dry fly ash has been one of the restricting factors for its large scale utilization. Manual collection from Electro static precipitator (ESP) hoppers leads to health and safety hazards as well as pollutes the environment. Availability of segregated dry fly ash in smaller bags for low volume users, jumbo bags for medium volume users and bulk tankers for high volume users is essential for large-scale utilization of fly ash in value added applications. Under one of the technology demonstration projects of Fly Ash Programme of TIFAC, facilities have been installed at Badarpur Thermal Power Station (BTPS), New Delhi, in association with Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) and National thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for collection of dry fly ash. Bags of varying capacities can be filled and stitched for economic transportation in conventional trucks in an environmental friendly way. The system has the flexibility of collecting graded dry fly ash from different fields of ESP. Salient features of the system Location Unit No.5 (210MW) ESP fields connected 1, 2 and 3 Number of hoppers Connected 2 hoppers of each field, total 6 Nos Conveying capacity 10 tonne/hr Silo capacity 50 tonne Bag size 40 kg, 500 kg, 1000kg

Advantages of Dry Fly Ash The dry fly ash is a valuable resource/raw material for cement, concrete and many other high value added applications primarily because of its pozzolanic characteristic. However, this property of fly ash gets reduced once it is mixed with water for disposal in ash pond. Therefore utilization of fly ash as part substitution of cement in concrete/mortar, manufacture of cement, prefabricated items, tiles and ready mix concrete etc necessitate setting up of mechanism for dry fly ash collection and supply in segregated mode. By virtue of its fineness, it also fills the pores and makes concrete denser. The presence of regular (round shape) particles and the fineness adds to the workability. Further fly ash concrete attains higher strength and is more durable in ling term. When the cement is partially replaced with dry ash, in addition to the chemical advantages stated earlier, the cement particles get extra space to get hydrated deep into its core, expand and pack extra space available to them. The increase in strength even after 90 days and longer periods is resultant of this hydration of cement particles to its core as well as strong bonding between cement and fly ash particles. Generally, finer the ash, higher is the reactivity and it is more valuable (technically and economically) 2. Fly Ash Flies Down to Earth... material for road building Use of fly ash in the construction of road embankment of the second Nizamuddin Bridge in New Delhi, has amply demonstrated its suitability as a material for road/embankment construction. The sites proximity to the river Yamuna posed a challenge to use the conventional material soil; Moreover, the embankment of 7 to 8 metre height was to be constructed for a stretch of about two kilometers in a flood zone. The challenge was accepted by the Fly Ash Utilisation Programme, PWD-Delhi, and the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), to construct the embankment by using fly ash in such tough operating conditions. Though a non-conventional material in India, geotechnically fly ash is a material which can be conveniently substituted for such applications. Even in our country, the use of fly ash for construction of roads and embankments had begun in the early 70s. More than 15 road stretches were constructed, to begin with, by Neyveli Lignite Corporation and other institutes, including CRRI. More than five projects of road construction using fly ash have been completed in association with the Fly Ash Utilisation Programme and CRRI in the last two years itself. These include construction of embankments of the Okhla Fly Over Bridge, New Delhi, and Hanuman Setu in Delhi, both by PWD-Delhi, road stretch at Raichur, NTPC Dadri, CSEC, Calcutta all with technical support and specifications from CRRI, a collaborator of the Fly Ash Utilisation Programme. A Supported by CRRI and the Fly Ash Mission, PWD-Delhi took up the use of fly ash for construction of the Nizamuddin Bridge embankment. Alternate designs/specifications were worked out. After a few iterations, a final design

acceptable to all and exhibiting the confidence of technical viability was finalised. Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) agreed to supply 1.5 lakh m3 of pond ash for the project. It also offered all support and co-operation for testing of pond ash from various locations and timely supplies. The construction work has been completed in a record time. The on-site quality control was maintained with simple tests and procedures. These were similar to the corresponding requirements in case of earthworks. No operational or executional problems have been faced on technical aspects, rather the working with fly ash has been found to be easier and better. The use of fly ash results in an enormous amount of cost saving. Broad estimates reveal that in the second Nizamuddin approach project, about Rs.1 crore has been saved by avoiding expenditure on the use of soil and its transport. It is estimated that there is a direct cost saving of around 30-40% in road embakments if fly ash is used instead of soil. In addition, DVB has saved about Rs.30 lakh in transportation cost. Not to forget, the contribution to environment protection and agricultural produce is enormous, if compounded objectively. The 1.7 km long, 7 m high fly ash embankment in a flood zone sets a new rocord and provides a lead for a large number of similar applications in future. 3. Use of Pond Ash in underground mine stowing For the first time in India use of pond ash in underground mine stowing in working panel has been successfully demonstrated. Approximately 10000 m pond ash has been stowed in the underground mine PK-I OF Singereni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL), Manuguru area from a captive Thermal Power Station of Heavy Water Plant (Department of Atomic Energy) at Manuguru, Andhra Pradesh. Directorate General of Mini Safety is satisfied with the demonstrations and plans are being worked out to take up pond ash stowing of large scale. The project is implemented by Central Mining Research Institute, Dhanbad. Similar operations are also on at Western Coalfields Ltd. ((WCL) - Chandrapur, where pond ash from Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station is being stowed in Durgapur Raitwari Colliery, Chandrapur area, Chandrapur . 4. First dam construction in India using Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) technology with high dose of Fly Ash The construction of first dam in India using Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) technology with high doses of fly ash has been started near Nasik under Ghatghar Pumped Storage Scheme of Irrigation Department, Govt. of Maharashtra.Approximately 60-70% cement is being replaced by fly ash. Three dams would be constructed under this project using RCC technology with high doses of fly

ash, which includes a major dam of height about 90m. The project is expected to be completed by December 2004. 5. Fly Ash: Flying Return to Farmers Fly Ash a residue of coal burning in thermal power stations has been a grossly underutilised resource for a long time. A lot of research has been done in the country by various institutes, research agencies and scientists towards its utilisation in agriculture. Fly ash has been found to have a great potential material with manifold advantages in agriculture. Some of the important areas where this product has been found to be useful in agriculture are: Modification of soil texture and bulk density Improvement of water holding capacity of soil Optimisation of soil pH Improvement in yield As a micronutrient supplement to soil Creation of conducive condition for better plant growth Although fly ash has an immense potential in agriculture, there are some possible concerns which need to be attended to or kept under control such as release of toxic elements into ground water, germination of some crop may get reduced at high levels of fly ash applications, uptake of heavy metals and toxic elements by the plants etc. Considering the potential benefits of the use of fly ash in agriculture and also keeping in mind the concerns, Fly Ash Utilisation Programme has commissioned a set of Technology Demonstration projects under different agro-climatic conditions and soilcrop combinations towards a confidence building exercise. Success Stories Oil yield increased by about 100 kg/hectare in the Sunflower crop at Raichur Helped to ameliorate surface encrustation in Red Soil Upto 40% increase in yield in wheat @ 200 t/hectare at Farrakka, West Bengal Paddy and wheat crops showed early maturing tendencies at Farrakka No significant uptake of trace and heavy metals and radionucleides found in wheat crop at Farrakka Low lying lands reclaimed with fly ash are being used for growing vegetable crops at Rihandnagar, U.P. Fly Ash based treatments in combination with organic sources showed better yields than non fly ash based treatments at Kharagpur Groundnut yield increased significantly as a residual effect of Fly Ash applied to preceding rice crop. Farmers are enthused to take groundnut crop in rabi using fly ash as compared to the traditional Rice crop at Kharagpur for better cost-benefit ratio.

FLY ASH MISSION - DST Fly Ash Mission, a Technology Project in Mission Mode of Government of India commissioned during 1994 as a joint activity of Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Power (MOP) and Ministry of Environment & Forests (MOEF), with Department of Science & Technology as the nodal agency, after its approved period i.e. 31st March 2002 was named as "Fly Ash Utilization Programme" (FAUP) and thereafter since May 2007 is being provided new focus & thrust under Fly Ash Unit (FAU), Department of Science and Technology (DST). In India, large quantities of fly ash are being generated, as most of our energy demand is met through coal based thermal power stations. The fly ash generation is expected to grow further as coal would continue to remain as major source of energy at least for next 25 years. The fly ash, which is a resource material, if not managed well, may pose environmental challenges. Large number of projects/activities has been undertaken for technology development/demonstration, dissemination of information, awareness creation, facilitation of multiplier effects, providing inputs for policy interventions etc. in the area of safe management & gainful utilization of fly ash. Through development & application of technologies the image of fly ash has been turned around from a "WASTE MATERIAL" to a "RESOURCE MATERIAL", inter alia, increased its utilization in the country from 1 million tonne (1994) to 100 million tonne (2010-11), reduced annual CO2 generation by 55 million tonne, reduced consumption of a number of mineral resources, generated employment for more than 1 Million and added annual economic returns worth more than US$3 Billion. Protocol has been signed between India and Russia for export of Indian expertise and know-how, including technologies to Russia and to set up Fly Ash Mission on the lines of Fly Ash Mission India.

Technologies for the manufacture of Fly Ash Bricks:

Several research organizations in India have developed technologies for the manufacture of fly ash bricks1) 2) 3) 4) 5) M/s Central Fuel Research Institute (CFRI), Dhanbad M/s Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee M/s National Council of Cement and Building Materials (NCBM), Ballabhgarh M/s Ahmedabad Electric Company Co. Ltd., Ahmedabad M/s INSWAREB, Vizag Fal-G Technology.

First Fly Ash embankment in India (Okhla Flyover, New Delhi)

Reclamation of Saline soil using Fly Ash

Cabbage on Fly Ash amended soil

Filling of South Balanda Mine

Allahabad bypass road embankment construction utilized 67 lac cum pond ash from NTPC Unchahar