TVA has a new ash dewatering system at Gallatin
The
Tennessee Valley Authority is touting a newly operational treatment plan to
reduce its land footprint for dealing with coal ash at its six-decade-old,
coal-fired Gallatin Fossil power plant
in
Sumner County.
A new
water management system for coal combustion residuals (CCRs) will reduce the
footprint from 435 acres to as few as three, according to the TVA. The federal
energy entity says the new systems is a step forward from traditional wet ash
handling to dry handling and storage landfill.
TVA
implemented the system last month, project manager Michael Clemmons noted. The
flow management system treats plant process water to remove contaminants such as
grease, oil and total suspended solids.
“Until now, Gallatin has utilized a
435-acre ash pond complex to slow treat water compared to the less than three
acres of new water treatment tanks, which can treat a maximum flow of 43 million
gallons a day,” Clemmons added.
Since
2016, Gallatin has stored dry CCR produced by the Gallatin scrubber in a lined,
state-of-the-art 52-acre landfill, but process water and bottom ash was still
treated in the ash pond complex. In an effort to move to completely dry storage,
the new flow management system will treat the water and temporarily dewater
bottom ash (until a permanent dewatering system comes online later this year),
replacing the need for an ash pond.
“This
flow management system fulfills our commitment at Gallatin to transition from
wet to dry CCR handling and storage, which is cleaner, safer and more stable,”
Clemmons said.