Feasibility Assessment of Fly Ash Recovery Approaches

Fly ash, a power station by-product, is currently stored in an ash lagoon. The chemical components of fly ash include heavy metals and radioactive elements that may be released to the environment through biogeochemical processes, threatening the surrounding environment, food chain, and human health. Leakage risks to the aquifer may also exist, impacting groundwater safety and farming activities. Even if the ash lagoon were capped, there will still be persistent environmental liability. Thus, it is necessary to identify a desired solution for managing the industrial partner’s fly ash problem. This research proposes to establish the geotechnical characteristics of the site and to provide a framework for the evaluation and comparison of extraction methods for the recovery of fly ash and rare earth elements from the ash lagoon. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Gordon Huang

Student:

Partner:

SaskPower

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Utilities

University:

University of Regina

Program: