South Africa has program to utilize fly ash

The South African electricity public utility Eskom has embarked on a process to increase utilisation of the ash produced through the electricity generation process at its coal-fired power stations. In the 2014–2015 financial year, 119.2 million tons of coal was consumed, producing 34.4 million tons (28.9%) of ash. About 7% of the Eskom ash is sold from 6 of the 13 coal-fired power stations. Many stations are currently running out of ash storage space, and expansion of the ash disposal facilities is required, which could affect security of supply because of limited ashing areas. Additionally, legislative requirements lead to extra requirements for ash storage facilities, requiring high capital expenditure. Increased utilisation of ash will postpone or ultimately avoid such capital expenditure. The South African legislative framework strictly governs ash utilisation.

For this reason, Eskom has rejuvenated its Ash Utilisation Project. Ash could play a key role in business development, job creation, skills transfer, and localisation. The development of small brick-making facilities in close proximity to power stations is ideal. It is imperative to develop new markets that consume high volumes of ash, including road construction and agriculture and land rehabilitation. The backfilling of mines with ash provides an opportunity; tied collieries are located in close proximity to power stations and could absorb high volumes of ash and benefit the ability to rehabilitate mines and mine closures cost efficiently.

http://www.coalcgp-journal.org/papers/2019/1946-0198-11-1-10.pdf