Coal Combustion Byproducts and Their Usage – Water Field

One of the environmental challenges is a management of solid wastes produced by industrial activities. Among these industrial activities is energy production from power plant, which produces the waste material during the coal combustion processes. The power plant during the coal combustion processes produces the fly ash, bottom ash and boiler slag. These are solid wastes commonly referred to as coal combustion byproducts (CCBs). The coal combustion byproducts are managed in two ways: They may be disposed of in landfills or surface impoundment ponds, or they may be used in some capacity (commonly referred to as “beneficial use”). In this paper an overview of coal combustion byproducts and their physical properties are presented. The benefits of utilizing CCBs in certain application implying the utilization of CCBs in water and wastewater treatment domain are provided here as well. In fact, this paper attempts to encourage and promote the utilization of native coal combustion byproducts where the needs arise. The appropriate studies of native CCBs provide an opportunity to use these materials for supplemental needs in water environment in the future.