Shuozhou City: China's developing circular economy

- Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province, China

The Asian Coal Ash Association, partnering with the Institute for Technical Information for the Building Materials Industry will host the 8th annual Coal Ash Asia conference this September 12-15. Coal Ash Asia consists of three days of oral presentations, trade and services exhibition, poster exhibition, scenic and industrial tours as well as multiple networking opportunities.

Shuozhou City produces approximately 8 million tons of fly ash and 1.8 million tons of gypsum each year, and disposes of nearly 5 million tons each year into landfill.  Spreading over 145, 000 acres, China’s premier coal ash industrial park is located next to a large coal ash reservoir and is key in the country’s development of circular economy.

There are almost one hundred of coal ash based products in the park, including:

·      Ultrafine Fly Ash,

·      Fly Ash Based Flooring

·      Fly Ash Based Furniture

·      Ceramic Fiber Cotton

·      Fly Ash Based Calcium Silicate Board

·      Aluminum oxide and Hydrated silica

·      Thistle board

·      Autoclaved Fly Ash Brick,

·      Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Blocks,

·      Gypsum Based Dry Mix Mortar,

·      Lightweight Wallboard

·      Cement

·      Concrete

·      And more!

Want to download a copy of the Shuozhou Industrial Park? Enter your email below and we will email it to you (file size: 91MB)

Email Address *

Thank you for your contact information. A member of our team will send you a copy of the Shuozhou Industrial Park Guide shortly.

Any further inquiries regarding the park? Please email [email protected]

Included in the guide is an overview of operations including the park’s R&D center, a collaborative effort of Peking University and the local Shuozhou government. With a combination of advanced technology, excellent equipment and innovative talents, the R&D center focuses on the development of new technologies and new products for enterprises within the industrial park. The Center has developed many new technologies and products including: Ceramic tiles and fiber cotton, foam ceramics, catalyst carriers, high strength fibers, wall materials, refractory and heat insulating materials.

This September, all attendees will have the chance to go on an in depth tour of the Shuozhou Industrial Park, and speak with park researchers, operators and managers. The delegates will be accompanied by a team of translators to assist with this exchange.

Want to learn more about participation at Coal Ash Asia 2018?

Research Highlight: Synthesis of High Quality Zeolites from Coal Fly Ash

- Perth, Australia

Dr. Kevin Li (Gang Li), participated in CAA2017 on behalf of the Centre for Energy, School of Mechanical & Chemical Engineering at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia. Dr. Li, a returning speaker to Coal Ash Asia, focused his presentation on synthesizing zeolites and necessary related conditions. The below abstract is an overview of the research presented at the conference. For more of Dr. Li’s publications and research, please click the link at the bottom of the abstract.

Abstract: Coal fly ash is a hazardous industrial waste generated from coal combustion and has been considered as an appropriate raw material for zeolite synthesis. In this study, synthesis of a high-quality type A zeolites (471m /g surface area) from fly ash at high conversion rate (98.2% aluminium and 96.5% silicon) has been achieved via a two-step alkali fusion and hydrothermal procedure. Furthermore, in preparation for production in commercials scale, up scaling of the developed synthesis process has been undertaken by using 150L reactor. More importantly, we tracked the migration of elements and quantified their distribution from fly ash to product zeolites and waste water throughout the synthesis process. Metalloid elements including arsenic and selenium, and those with strong amphoteric properties such as molybdenum were found highly mobile and mostly collected in the waste water. In comparison, less than 20% of heavy metal elements of weak amphoteric nature including copper, chromium and lead originated from the fly ash went to the waste water; the rest of these three heavy metals along with almost all of the cadmium, iron and nickel were fixed into the product zeolites. Despite the accumulation of hazardous elements in product zeolites, none of them was leachable under various harsh conditions, ensuring safe applications of such zeolites.

If you are interested in attending Coal Ash Asia 2018 in Shuozhou, please click the "CAA2018" link to register, and our event team will assist you in finding the participation that's right for you.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete: CCPs Growth in Asia Pacific

Between 2015 and 2021, the global autoclaved aerated concrete market is expected to increase by just under $2 billion USD.  AAC is increasing in industry wide use due to its light weight and versatility. The construction material consists of fly ash and gypsum, both biproducts of burning coal to make energy, and much less costly than their alternatives, sand and anhydrite.  The material also consists of lime, cement, and aluminum powder. Construction companies are increasing their use of this material as it is not only more cost efficient, but also provides wider durability to seismic fluctuation, intense heat, and pests. The material itself also saves the manufacturer or construction company in water and energy usage.  Autoclaved aerated concrete is widely used in Europe and North America.

AAC materials can either be used instead of or to repair common building materials. Application can be seen in most real estate areas including residential, industrial and commercial. However, the majority of the AAC market has been residential since its inception, and continuing throughout 2017 with a third of the overall market. The product types of autoclaved aerated concrete are distributed into tiles, panels, blocks, lintels and others.

The growing market is propelled by elements such as the increased importance of utilizing green building materials, the use of recycled materials themselves (fly ash, etc), and its superiority to commonly used materials for the same purpose.

Currently, limited adoption is due to high start up costs associated with AAC, and because manufacturing facilities are not yet commonplace, resourcing and logistics becomes problematic.

As adaptation grows however, and infrastructure is set in place, the forecast for AAC paneling is projected to grow almost 8% in the next 5 years.

Globally, Europe has lead in market consumption. However, the Asia Pacific region, including countries like China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are expected to increase consumption by over 10%, also within the next 5 years.

Opportunities in the AAC market are real as there is strong interest in China, India and other densely populated regions who would benefit from disaster resistant structures made from coal combustion products (CCPs).

To read more about autoclaved aerated concrete construction, trends, and forecasts for investment and integration, please read Orbis Research’s report:  Global Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) Market-Segmented by Type, Application (Construction), and Geography-Trends and Forecasts (2017-2022). Follow the link in the text for more information.

To learn more about global trends and research on AAC and CCPs, join us at Coal Ash Asia 2018.

Hot Topic: Alumina Extraction from Fly Ash

Baotou, Inner Mongolia

Aluminium is widely used in transportation, packaging and building materials sectors, due to its resistance to corrosion.  Alumina can be found in coal deposits all over the world including the US, India and China, the top three producers. Aluminium extraction however, is not a common practice in coal-fired power stations, as many struggle to justify the costs and energy costs. Inefficient systems have caused an obstacle for industry wide adaptation.

At this year’s Coal Ash Asia, in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, July 21-24, Industry professionals and researchers from around the globe will meet to discuss and share knowledge on Alumina Extraction. Discussions will explore energy and cost efficient extraction technologies, as well as international and domestic overviews from participating countries in our International Panel session.   

Our annual industrial tour will take place at Datang International Renewable Resources Development Co., Ltd. The holding company, Datang Group is a “big five” power company in China. The company is operating the first and only commercial project of Alumina Extraction of Fly ash in China, with production capacity of 200 000 tons/a Alumina, and producing paper and building materials products. Among these by-products are cement and calcium silicate board.

China universities, including the China Building Materials Academy in Beijing, lead in research pertaining to fly and bottom ash a processing and utilization. Feedback from the international community from Coal Ash Asia 2016 supported notions that China is year’s ahead in terms clean energy technology.

Processing and treating ash from coal fired power stations to the building materials industry is new to countries like Ukraine. “ The only industry that uses fly ash in Ukraine is the cement industry, with no processing or treatment, we simply feed what we get from the power station to the plant,” Andrey Garanin, business development manager from United Minerals Group (UMG) in Ukraine. Mr. Garanin attended CAA2016 to explore alternative applications for ash. After a visit to CAA’s annual industrial tour in Shuozhou, Mr. Garanin cited that there are many possibilities for effective adaptation in Ukrainian markets for Chinese tech. “China could help guide Ukraine to clean, energy efficient building materials. The infrastructure is unlike anything we’ve seen in Eastern Europe.”

Check out our introduction page to find our more about Coal Ash Asia 2017, who else will be joining us, and what other tracks we will cover at this year’s event.

Read the Wood Mackenzie report on alumina extraction!  (click here)

China and Australian Coal Combustion Products Exchange: Millmerran Power Station and Independent Fly Ash Brokers

- Brisbane, Australia

A Chinese delegation including academics, power plant professionals and coal combustion product consumers traveled to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns on a twelve day visit to Australia. The program, led by David Harris, Chairman of the Asian Coal Ash Association, and Bill Martin, senior partner with Coal Ash Solutions, included visits to key construction material and building material laboratories and production facilities.  The coal combustion products exchange took place from November 19th – 30th. 

The first stop on the tour was a visit to Millmerran Power Station and the co-located fly ash and bottom ash processing facility owned and operated by Independent Fly Ash Brokers. Millmerran Power Station, located just west of Brisbane, is a 1000-megawatt coal mine mouth power station, using pulverized coal and producing 3000 tons of coal ash per year. An introduction to the power station was provided by manager Joel Rickuss. The Chinese delegation observed an overview Millmerran, which is of one of the most cost efficient power stations in Australia. This is partly due to being located next to the coal mine. However, Millmerran also recycles the municipal waste water from the nearby city of Toowomba, piping the water to the station for use in their cooling system. The station does not use standard cooling towers, but a radiator system that proves to be very cost effective and resource efficient in a region of Australia where water conservation is a top priority. 

Bottom ash from the power station is being used for road base, improving the quality of roads for the coal mining operation. The fly ash is being collected by Independant Fly ash Brokers (IFB), a company jointly owned by three regional construction materials companies.  Due to the large distance from the markets, only 20-30% of the fly ash is being beneficially utilised. The rest is being used to backfill the coal mine.

The Chinese delegation noticed the difference in safety protocols and in the organization of the power station.

Independent Fly Ash Brokers is a joint venture between Wagners, Neilsens and Caldwells. IFB has a fly ash processing facility that is co-located with Millmerran. IFB pumps dry ash to their classifiers and silos pneumatically. The tour was given by Peter Dennis, IFB's operations manager.

The degree of automation at the IFB facility is impressive. After being pneumatically conveyed from the power station, fly ash is classified and then stored in hoppers, ready to discharge into pneumatic tanker trucks. Drivers of the tanker trucks pull into the loading bay, underneath the hopper outlet. The driver parks the truck and then goes to the operator deck to connect the discharge pipe from the hopper to the inlet on the truck storage tank. The hopper is on a gantry and - in the case of a double tanker truck - can be moved automatically by the truck driver from one tank to the next without moving the truck. The computer system indicates when the volume of ash has reached the tank capacity and automatically shuts off the discharge. 

All of this is done at a single loading control unit and is efficiently designed as trucks do not need to move from station to station. The whole loading process is operated by the truck driver, reducing labour costs and chances for human error. 

The delegation was very impressed by the degree of automation, cleanliness, organisation, and the factory design.

The next visit on our itinerary was to Wagner's Geoploymer. Wagner’s three trading divisions - Wagners Concrete, Quarries and Transport include cement, flyash and lime, reinforcing steel, on site concrete supply, contract crushing and bulk transport, as well as lightweight composite fibre products. Please view the next post in our post SACCP exchange series, for more information on that visit.

Date and Location Set for AsianCAA’s Coal Ash Asia 2017!

Next year’s Coal Ash Asia will be in Baotou, Inner Mongolia from July 21-24. Baotou was the event’s first location back in 2010. We’ve decided to return this year with a new venue, tracks, and industrial tour. Please see below for more information, and our list of invited guests.

Baotou is the largest industrial city in the Inner Mongolia and is located at the foot of the Yinshan Mountains, and on the bank of the Yellow River. With a total population of over 2.65 million, The city has successively won the titles of National Civilized City, Garden City, and National Excellent Tourist City. This leisure capital situated on grassland well displays its charm with its natural resources and cultural assumptions.

The Mongolians have created a unique culture of the city with the ancient Great Wall, grasslands, desert and rich mineral resources allowing it to develop as a modern industrial city, reputed now as the 'steel capital on grassland' and the 'capital of rare earth'. Industrially, Baotou is most famous for the discovery of the Baiyun'ebo iron mine in the early Twentieth Century. 

We will be releasing information about our industrial tour shortly. Our visit will be to an aluminium extraction facility in Baotou. This topic will be widely discussed during this year’s event in Inner Mongolia.

To become an exhibitor or sponsor, please review our exhibitor/sponsorship package and contact our event staff with any questions. Please also visit our Exhibitors and Sponsorship Page.  

Paper Submissions and Presentation Abstract forms are due May 15th. To be a speaker at this year’s event, register through our registration page and our event staff will send you a presentation abstract form.

Registration and Attendance fees:

Regular: 1950 USD

Early Bird (before April 1st ): only $1500 (save $450)

For Coal Ash Asia 2017,

the tracks include:

1. Coal ash Processing and Utilization

  a. Grinding, Classify and Superfine grinding

  b. Cement, Concrete, Wall Materials and Geopolymer

  c. High Value utilizations: Ceramics, Cenospheres, and Fillers

  d. sulphoaluminate cement

2. FGD Gypsum Utilization

  a. Gypsum drying and Calcification

  b. Construction Applications: gypsum block, board, mortar

  c. Agricultural applications

  d. High Strength Gypsum, etc

3. Metal extraction

  a. Al extraction

  b. Other metal extraction

4. Slag and Tailings

General itinerary: July 20-24, Beijing and Baotou

July 20   Welcome Reception in Beijing

July 21   Registration; Exhibition set-up

July 22   morningplenary session

               afternoonSimultaneous Tracks

July 23   morning   Simultaneous Tracks

               afternoonplenary session and closing ceremony

July 24   Industrial tour

Invited attendees include:

Datang Group

University of Kentucky, Centre for Applied Energy Research

Huaneng Group

Coal Ash Institute of India

Guodian Group

Shenhua Group

Datong Mine Group

Shanxi Energy group

Beijing Energy Group

China Building Materials Group

Baotou Steel Group

Baosteel Group

China Building Materials Academy

Peking University

Tsinghua University

Nanjing University of Technology

East China University of Technology

State Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Reuse for Building Materials, China

National Institute of Low-Carbon and Clean Energy, Beijing

Coal Ash Solutions

Adbri Masonry

>In Lieu of our annual event in Shuozhou, we will be hosting a different event aimed at the local industrial sectors, we will be releasing information shortly for this upcoming September.

Sino Australia Coal Combustion Products (SACCP) Exchange: November 19-26

Brisbane & Sydney, November 19-26

On the heels of a successful Coal Ash Asia event this past September in Shuozhou City, AsianCAA will be bringing a delegation of Chinese researchers and companies to Australia for a formal academic and commercial exchange.

The itinerary (see below) consists of a multiplatform approach to coal ash utilization in Australia. A couple goals of our tour will be to focus on sustainable design and management strategies in the construction sector and current research projects and initiatives at UNSW. UNSW Built Environment has a close relationship with the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living based at UNSW. The CRC supports end user-driven research collaborations to address the major challenge of climate change facing Australia. UNSW Built Environment researchers are involved in CRC programs dedicated to integrated building systems and engaged communities.

The Centre for Built Infrastructure Research (CBIR) is a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the faculties of Engineering, Science and Design, Architecture and Building. CBIR's nationally and internationally renowned work focuses on finding solutions to important global problems in building structures, materials, design, management, improvement, safety and conservation.

Our commercial exchange is backed by companies who are operational and technical leaders in the coal combustion products industry. Millmerran Flyash Pty Ltd is an independent processor and marketer of coal combustion products, operating out of the Millmerran power station in South East Queensland. Utilising supercritical boiler technology and low NOx burners.

Wagners CFT Manufacturing Pty Ltd have developed and commercialised a new innovative geopolymer concrete named Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC), that offers customers unique durability performance and the highest level of sustainability of any concrete available in the world today.

Cement Australia has a production capacity of over 3 million tonnes annually. Operations range from the mining of raw materials to the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of a diverse range of high performance cements and cement related products.

Adbri Masonry manufactures and supplies a range of products to the building, construction, infrastructure and mineral processing markets throughout Australia. The company’s principal activities include the production, importation and distribution of clinker, cement, industrial lime, premixed concrete, aggregates and concrete products.

To join our delegation or our itinerary of companies/institutes, please email our communications coordinator, Sonya Laing: [email protected].