05-CBRC-M23
Manufacturing Building Products with Fly ash and Advanced Coal Combustion Byproducts

The purpose of this proposed research is to extend brick making from using Class F fly ash to using advanced coal combustion byproducts (CCBs) to produce high quality fired bricks and innovative autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks. The CCBs to be tested with and without fly ash will include but are not limited to flue gas desulfurization (FGD) byproducts and fluidized bed combustion (FBC) ash. An additional purpose of this proposal is to use the bench-scale results to guide scale-up productions test runs for making AAC blocks with Class F fly ash according to ASTM specification. For the past several years, researchers at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS)/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have been working with brick industry partners to develop high quality, marketable fired brick plants for their conventional fired bricks. Bricks produced in scale-ups testing at two commercial facilities containing fly ash at levels up to 40 wt% have met or exceeded ASTM specifications, and the process has been developed to a near-commercialization stage at two brick plants in Illinois and Indiana. The ISGS/UIUC team also has been working with industry partners to develop innovative marketable AAC blocks that will potentially use much larger volumes of fly ash than brick-making. The process for making AAC blocks uses fly ash as a substitute for sand, the main ingredient in making regular AAC. More then sixty bench-scale test runs have been completed at the ISGS, and test blocks produced with fly ash inputs of up to 72 wt% show engineering properties comparable to the regular sand AAC. Therefore, scale-up testing is in order.

The specific objectives of this project are 1) to acquire samples of fly ashes and CCBs, 2) conduct chemical and physical characterizations of raw, intermediate, and final products, 3) conduct bench-scale pre-cursor test, and commercial-scale production tests when applicable, 4) perform and 5) conduct public outreach. Seven tasks will be performed to meet the project objectives. Task 1: Sample acquisition; Task 2: Characterization of raw materials, intermediates, and final products; Task 3: Conduct bench scale production for precursor testing and, preliminary in-plant evaluations; Task 4: Evaluate commercial scale production and demonstration; Task 5: Economic and environmental feasibility studies; Task 6: Public outreach; Task 7: Preparation of required reports. This project is a joint effort among the ISGS/UIUC, Colonial Brick Company (CBC), Streator Brick Company (SBC), Cinergy PSI (CPSI), Abbot plant (AP), and the Indiana Geological Survey (IGS).

Successful results would help to provide an additional market for fly ash and other CCBs. The amount of fly ash and CCBs that can be consumed will depend upon the production rate of each plant and the amount of fly ash and CCBs that can be successfully incorporated into the final products. For example, if a brick plant is currently producing 30 million bricks per year, and bricks with 50 wt% of the CCB material can be produced, then the plant can consume about 37,000 tons of CCBs each year.

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