New Use for Coal Burning Byproduct

Coal is one of the fossil fuels most widely used to produce electricity across the world.  In the United States alone there are over 450 coal burning power plants that provide electricity.  While many people agree that we need to begin investing time and energy in finding alternative sources of power, coal will not be going anywhere in the near future.  One of the byproducts of burning coal is flyash, a substance that used to be pumped into the atmosphere before regulations in the United States mandated that the power plants capture the flyash and find other ways of disposing it.  Some of it gets recycled, but about 70% ends up going into landfills which are filling up at an alarming rate.  This 70% amounts to about 91 million tons a year.  However, in a consortium between acadamia and industry, a new use has been found for the flyash that could save taxpayers millions of dollars and reduce drastically the amount of flyash that ends up in landfills.  The new use for this flyash is a coating for concrete and rebar to extend its life in road surfaces, bridges, and other municipal uses.  This new use was created by the American Chemical Society which meets every year. 

This new use is absolutely fantastic.  In addition to extending the life of concrete on roads and bridges, it can also be used for all the concrete piping that is used to transfer waste water in cities, dams, and almost any other industry or city/state that uses concrete.  The article states that studies were done where concrete coated with this new substance was exposed to "acid rain" and other natural phenomenon such as freeze/thaw cycles, extreme heat, etc. and has proven to outlast any conventional concrete out there.  In one specific experiment done, coated concrete was exposed to acids 100,000 times those found in the natural environment and lasted a year before showing signs of decay and crumbling.  Regular concrete started deteriorating within days.  This could be one solution to assist in our economic recovery.  One aspect that is rarely factored into the whole scheme of budget problems is the rapidly aging infrastucture of our country.  Bridges, roadways, water systems, dams, are all decades old and many are in dire need of replacement if they are going to last.  The only other option is to begin to replace these structures with the costs skyrocketing into the trillions of dollars.  In our current economic climate, we can not afford extra trillions tacked on to our already stressed state and federal budgets. 

Now it seems, it will be up to our elected officials to begin use of this new product to help stave off the inevitable.  While the bridges and roadways will have to be replaced as this is not a permanent fix, the problems can be addressed more slowly so they all don't hit our pockets at the same time.  We can only hope that this new product will be used to its fullest extent.   When our aging structure is eventually slowly replaced, the use of this new product could extend the life of the new infrastructure decades more than it would last otherwise.  We have all seen the temporary fixes that are being implemented to our roadways and bridges, a little patch here, a little patch there, and within a few years, they begin to crumble and give way again.  This alone drains our pockets because the same areas need to be replaced on an almost continuous basis.  Our infrastructure was not originally designed to handle the current loads and traffic that they are being used for.  Populations are increasing, there are more cars on the road, and things deteriorate more quickly than intended. 

Lets hope that this new product is ready to be used in the near future and lets also hope that the cost is affordable to taxpayers.  We are already burdened by the recession, but this could help in the recovery.  Not only could it help in the recovery and sustain our infrastructure, but it will also help our environment by keeping this coal byproduct out of landfills around the country.  It is a wonderful day when a byproduct normally discarded can be used to benefit all of us.  This is the sort of ingenuity that our country is known for and we need to see more of.  We have long been known for our inventions, innovations, and technological breakthroughs.  It seems that we have not lost it all completely and are still capable of using our innovative spirit to turn trash into a beneficial product.  Today, lets celebrate the human mind and all its capable of.  Lets turn for a minute away from the trash in D.C. and look instead to the future.  Even better, lets put our innovative spirit to work and turn the trash that is walking down the congressional hallways into a beneficial byproduct.  I don't know what can be done there, it may be harder than turning flyash into a coating, but maybe it is still possible.