Description:
PMI Ash Technologies, LLC, headquatered is Cary, North Carolina, is an innovative clean technology company that fosters energy independence by creating innovative “green solutions” through recycling, reusing, and re-distributing energy otherwise lost in fly ash at coal fired utility plants.

Executive Summary:

As long as coal is part of our nation’s generation mix, we at PMI seek to reduce a fossil power plant’s footprint. We do this by focusing solely on a coal combustion byproduct - fly ash. Fly ash receives most of the pollutants which are extracted from a fossil plant’s emissions via newly installed air pollution control devices. Most of these pollutants end up on the ash. PMI’s innovative technology works with air pollution control technologies to boost ash sales into the concrete market and harness the heat to reduce coal burned at the fossil plant. Carbon Burn-Out is a proprietary, patented technology that uses fly ash as a renewable or recurring feedstock to produce beneficiated fly ash that is suitable for use as a partial replacement for Portland cement in concrete and blended cements. The CBO process combusts fly ash from the power plant in a fluidized bed, extracting the residual energy content of the fly ash to fuel the CBO, returning useful heat to the power plant. PMI’s technology accomplishes this in a manner where you never see ash. The fly ash is all enclosed in pipes making it a good neighbor. This allows a fossil plant to reduce its’ air, carbon and solid waste footprint while using the fly ash to generate 2 to 3 megawatts per site In a carbon constrained environment, use of cemetious materials as a partial replacement of Portland cement play an important role in producing real quantifiable offsets in manners which are safe for human, health and the environment. The significant energy, environmental and economic benefits resulting include: 1. CBO extracts valuable energy from fly ash and makes it available to generate electricity, thereby increasing power plant efficiency and reducing coal use in proportion to the energy recovered from the fly ash. 2. CBO reduces facility-wide mercury emissions while boosting ash sales even after activated carbon has been added to the power plant to reduce mercury emissions. 3. CBO greatly reduces the disposal of waste fly ash in landfills. 4. CBO decreases the overall demand for Portland cement, as well as, the fuel used and air emissions generated at a cement plant when beneficiated fly ash is used as a partial substitute for Portland cement.

What specific results have been achieved?

Based on PMI’s overall operating record of its 4 commercial CBO plants with its first plant going into commercial operation in 1999, the following results have been achieved: - more than 5 million tons of fly ash have avoided being placed is a pond or landfill - approximately 4 million tons of ash have been sold as a replacement to Portland cement reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 3-4 million tons (depending on methodology employed) - recovered equivalent heat value from fly ash of approximately 350,000 tons of coal As a result of these successes, PMI’s technology has won several awards for technological and environmental excellence, including awards given by the Southeastern Electric Exchange, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

In what ways are the efforts of this organization/individual unique and innovative?

PMI's CBO technology is one of only a few commercial ash recycling technologies in the world. It is an elegant, innovative solution to beneficiating fly ash. Moreover, because it is not a separation technology, 100% of the fly ash processed is recycled into a partial replacement of Portland cement and not placed in a landfill. The CBO technology is also one of the few technologies to recover the heat value of the fly ash and beneficially reuse it. Because of the flexibility of the technology, we are also able to handle future regulations, like activated carbon for mercury controls, allowing utilities to employ pollution control equipment without negatively affecting the quality or salability of the fly ash. PMI Ash Technologies is an innovative R&D company with approximately 40 patents applied for and received to date. We continue to work to find innovative environmentally beneficially solutions for our energy and green building needs.

How has the broader community been impacted?

PMI's CBO technology positively impacts the broader community in a number of ways. Because fly ash processed though the CBO technology is being recycled instead of landfilled, any of the potentially negative effects of leaching in the environment, including effects on groundwater is eliminated. Also, because we are partially replacing Portland cement in concrete, we are dramatically reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Additionally, our processed fly ash is a recycled material used in the building industry. Because of its many environmental benefits, it is a part of the “green-building” movement in the country and is a component to getting buildings LEED certified. Finally, the CBO technology creates “green-collar” jobs in the community it serves.