Proposals for the implementation of an integrated approach in the field of the coal ash handling to maximize the coal ash usage in the production processes of the Russian enterprises

Coal-fired power generation accounts for 36% of the world’s thermal and electrical energy production in 2023. In the Russian Federation, coal-based generation is about 18%. In the long term, until 2050, coal will remain one of the main energy sources both in Russia and around the world, despite its decline in the global fuel balance compared to 2020 and an increase in the share of renewables.

Compared to natural gas and fuel oil, coal is the cheapest source of energy, while coal-fired thermal power plants, emitting nitrogen and sulfur oxides, greenhouse gases together with ash particles into the atmosphere, polluting underground water and resulting in soil degradation, are the least environmentally friendly of all traditional power plants.

In the USA, EU and other industrially developed countries, the coal ash utilization level is more than 60%. In Russia, the beneficial use of the coal ash is about 19% of the volume of its production. This is due to the use of wet coal ash removal systems at power plants and the storage of the coal ash in the form of an ash and slag mixture and, in general, the lack of the comprehensive approach in the field of coal ash handling problem. The largest countries producing coal combustion by-products are China, India, Europe and the USA. In India, coal ash utilization is 100%, in China – 60%. In 15 countries of the European Union (EU-15), the highest level of the coal ash use makes 120%; this figure means that more coal combustion by-products are processed than produced. In different countries, the coal ash is mainly used in the production of cement and concrete, which primarily applies to siliceous ash. Calcareous ash is mainly used both for backfilling of the worked-out mines and as a binder, given its hydraulic properties. Every year, coal-fired thermal power plants and boiler houses in Russia generate 19-25 million tons of the coal ash, and this figure is growing every year. Today, above 1,5 billion tons of the coal ash have been accumulated in the disposal sites of thermal power plants. About 2/3 of all the ash dumps are close to the design filling or are already overflowing. The problem of eliminating objects of accumulated environmental damage, which are coal ash dumps, can be only solved by implementing large-scale projects for the comprehensive coal ash processing in order to receive the in-demand products. The article presents the author’s proposals for improving the regulatory framework to increase the coal ash utilization level, which concern strategic industry planning, the development of new standards for the coal ash processing products, adjusting existing standards in terms of terminology, and finalizing other regulatory legal acts. The article shows an incentive mechanism in order to raise the interest of the ash producers in increasing the coal ash utilization volumes to achieve key indicators regarding the coal ash use in the amount of 50% by 2035 as specified in the Energy Strategy of Russia until 2035. An algorithm of actions is proposed for the implementation of an integrated approach in the field of the coal ash handling to maximize the coal ash usage in the production processes of the Russian enterprises.

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