Abstract
The State of Florida encourages the recycling and reuse of a variety of materials, assuming that it can be accomplished in a manner that protects public health and the environment. A detailed technical and field evaluation was conducted on behalf of and in cooperation with a major municipal utility, to investigate the reuse potential of large volume byproducts from an electrical generating station which employs circulating fluidized bed (CFB) technology for combustion of coal and petcoke as fuel. In cooperation with FDEP, a 18 month field demonstration was conducted to assess stability, leachability, and runoff from one of the CFB byproducts (“EZBase™”). Pads (12 by 50 feet) were constructed of the compacted EZBase™ as well as of materials for which EZBase™ could be substituted (asphalt, limerock, concrete) and were designed to simulate proposed reuse scenarios. Shallow groundwater monitoring wells were installed immediately adjacent to the pads and were monitored monthly for a variety of constituents, in conjunction with surface water runoff samples collected during rainfall events, and soil samples adjacent to all of the pads.. Vanadium emerged as a substance of interest in both surface runoff and in soil, but vanadium was not detected in nearby groundwater wells. The groundwater, soil and storm water runoff data clearly demonstrated that the EZBase™ does not pose hazards to the environment, and demonstrated that the environmental fate of analytes in the byproduct is very similar to the other commonly used products in similar applications. A variety of potential risk-based reuse scenarios were proposed to the state environmental regulatory agency on the basis of human health and ecological considerations, including soil stabilization in environmental remediation applications, road bed and road surface projects, commercial/industrial site paving projects, and road right-of-way application. Toxicological, risk and engineering questions were satisfactorily addressed and approvals were granted for reuse of EZBase™ on a broad scale.
Recommended Citation
Coleman, R. Marie; Teaf, Christopher M.; Cavey, Vickie P.; Covert, Douglas J.; Hughes, Susan N.; Marcus, Michael; and McClure, Matt
(2010)
"Achievement Of A Beneficial Reuse Designation For A Specialized High Volume Byproduct,"
Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy: Vol. 11, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/soilsproceedings/vol11/iss1/4