BIOS, ABSTRACTS, PHOTOS
HOT TOPIC HOUR MAY 3-4, 2012
FLYASH POND AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT ISSUES
Thursday - May 3, 2012
JOHN WARD – JOHN WARD, INC.
BIO: John N. Ward is President of John Ward Inc. -- a marketing and public affairs consultancy focusing on energy issues. He serves as Government Relations Committee Chairman for the American Coal Ash Association and is also Chairman of Citizens for Recycling First, an organization that promotes recycling coal ash as a safe, environmentally preferable alternative to disposal. He is a former board member and past president of the American Coal Council. He served on the National Coal Council as appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Energy.
ABSTRACT: Coal Ash Regulatory and Legislative Update Three and a half years have passed since a coal ash impoundment failure in Tennessee prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to initiate rulemaking activities for new coal ash disposal regulations. With no end in sight for the rulemaking, Congress is getting involved and legislation creating new disposal regulations is now the subject of a Transportation Bill conference committee negotiation. Meanwhile, lawsuits against the EPA, new EPA-led risk evaluations of coal ash beneficial use, and an expected Notice of Data Availability related to Steam Effluent Generating Guidelines data are combining to further complicate the regulatory outlook.
JAMES BALLAN – FLSMIDTH, INC.
BIO: James Ballan, Manager, Supplementary Cementitious Materials, FLSmidth, Inc.
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
BIGGEST BRAGGING POINTS - Complete Cement Plant knowledge /experience from design to installation and commissioning through troubleshooting and optimization covering Process, Mechanical, Electrical, and Emissions aspects.
ABSTRACT: “Flyash Ponds and Power Plant Wastewater Treatment Issues” Sustainable Growth – Processes for Coal Ash Benificiation
For many years coal ash has been in use as a cement additive, soil stabilizer and filler for underground voids such as sink holes and mines. All of the discussion about regulating CCR’s as hazardous waste has attached a stigma to the beneficial re-use. This presentation will introduce a concept for the beneficiation of coal ash in one compact system with the flexibility to address both new CCR production and existing impoundments.
NAOMI LEVY – INFILCO DEGREMONT
BIO: Naomi is a Senior Process Engineer with Infilco Degremont located in Richmond, VA. She earned a Master degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Technion, Israel. Industrial Water and Waste Water Treatment is her third career segment and has spanned the last 20 years. She started her career as a Chemistry and Math High school teacher. She then proceeded into the field of Table Olive Production, where her main responsibility was to deal with its multi-million GPD “difficult to treat” waste water. From there, the transition to resolving Power Plant water issues was a natural progression.
ABSTRACT: Flyash is one of the many by-products generated in power plant’s operations as a result of the combustion of coal. It contains all the non-combustible minerals that were deposited with the coal and is highly variable. In many places, this residue is being collected in Ash Ponds. Unless treated or reused, it would stay inside the structure “forever”, potentially being a candidate for a disastrous spill, or contributing to the contamination of the water receiving body. This presentation will describe Treatment Options for both the Fly Ash and the Fly Ash Pond Leachate. It will include Infilco Degremont’s (IDI’s) expertise in treating this considerably variable and complex water.
DOUGLAS DAHLBERG – SARGENT & LUNDY
BIO: B.S. Civil/Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin Madison, 1978
M.B.A. Olivet University Bourbonnais, Illinois, 1997
Professional Engineer, Wisconsin, New York
Doug Dahlberg has 33 years experience focused in ash, municipal and hazardous waste landfills, ponds, and containment facilities. Specific aspects include site selection, permitting, operations, construction plans and specifications, investigations, closure, remediation, construction observation/documentation, and long-term care.
For the last 13 years at Sargent & Lundy, he has worked exclusively on ash fills, site development, and storm water design/permitting for electrical generating plants.
His general background includes work at 130 landfills, 93 power plants (coal, nuclear, gas, and oil-fired), and 27 industrial facilities. Additional experience includes CERCLA and RCRA compliance and RI/FS, phase 1, 2, and 3 environmental assessments, remediation, risk and liability evaluations, quality control, construction and operation storm water pollution prevention plans, erosion and sediment control compliance, and cost estimates.
ABSTRACT: Proposed U.S. EPA Coal Combustion Residuals Regulations
How Will It Impact Your Plant and Your Bottom Line?
On the heels of the 2008 Kingston power plant ash containment breach in Tennessee, U. S. EPA proposed first-time coal combustion residuals (CCRs) handling and disposal regulations. The more recent Oak Creek Wisconsin generating facility ash-bluff collapse reminded the regulatory agencies of the potential problems associated with ash disposal sites.
The critical questions are “what’s this going to cost and how will it affect your power plant’s bottom line?”
With proposed rules technically similar to the existing Subtitle D municipal solid waste disposal regulations, CCRs handling and disposal unit costs can be estimated by considering differences and similarities between municipal solid waste and CCRs.
Friday - May 4, 2012
NICK NELSON – BARR ENGINEERING
BIO: Nicholas Nelson, Environmental Specialist. Nick has more than ten years of experience on projects involving environmental permitting and the handling and treatment of water and wastewater. He has a unique combination of chemical engineering and law degrees that position him to help clients navigate the intersection of technical and regulatory issues. At Barr, he works on permitting, design, technical evaluation, and process analysis projects for industrial and municipal clients. Nick was a principal author of a recent Electric Power Research Institute report on strategic planning for potential impacts of coal combustion residual and effluent guideline revisions on power plants.
ABSTRACT: Ash disposal capacity limits and recent air regulations are forcing power plants to commit to upgrades for pollution control equipment and disposal facilities before coal combustion residual (CCR) rules or effluent guidelines are finalized. This presentation will provide recent experience in evaluating immediate project requirements while positioning upgrades to comply with final CCR and effluent guideline regulations. Because utilities are struggling with how to prepare for these changes, the presentation will include specific recommendations on what to do now so that better decisions can be made in these upgrade projects.
DR. DAVID MAZYCK - CARBONXT
DR. TOM HIGGINS - CH2M HILL
Dr. Higgins is a vice president and Technology Fellow with nearly 40 years of experience at CH2M HILL. His focus in the past eleven years has been on air and water issues associated with FGD scrubbers. He has two patents pending on mercury and selenium removal technologies related to FGD scrubbers.
DENNIS FINK – CH2M HILL
Mr. Fink is an environmental engineer with nearly 20 years of experience at CH2M HILL including performing waste characterization studies and treatment system designs of utility and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. His focus in the past five years has been on FGD and ash pond wastewater management.
ABSTRACT: CH2M HILL will present based on our work with power plants to address pressures to close ash ponds. The approach described in this presentation to eliminate ash ponds includes a combination of: eliminating wastewater streams, segregating streams that have stringent regulatory requirements or that adversely affect reuse (total dissolved solids), and treating remaining high volume / easily treatable wastewater for reuse or discharge. Each of the main wastewater streams typically discharged to ponds will be discussed (FGD wastewater, fly ash transport water, bottom ash transport water, and other plant waste streams), focusing on why and how to eliminate treatment by ponds. Best practices for designing treatment of remaining wastewater will be presented, as will reuse strategies for wastewater discharge minimization or elimination.
ARI LEWIS – GRADIENT
BIO: Ari Lewis is an Environmental Toxicologist and the manager of the Toxicology team at Gradient, an environmental consulting company (http://www.gradientcorp.com/). Ari has extensive experience in toxicology and risk assessment, with particular expertise in the risk assessment of coal combustion residues (CCRs) and the trace metals contained in CCRs. In this capacity, Ari has published and presented extensively on the health risks of CCR constituents, as well as provided direct input to US EPA on CCR regulatory issues. Ari can be contacted by email at alewis@gradientcorp.com. or by phone at (508) 224-2907.
ABSTRACT: Human Health Risk Assessment and the Regulation of Coal Combustion Residues (CCRs)
In support of the Proposed Rule to regulate CCRs, US EPA has published several assessments on the potential human and ecological risks associated with various coal ash disposal practices. This presentation will discuss the risks associated with surface impoundments and how this information was used in the cost-benefit analysis to distinguish among different regulatory options. Also, in light of changing (but as yet unknown) regulations, this presentation will address how human health risk analysis will be important to address future safety concerns associated with disposal and beneficial use of CCRs, and the importance of emerging toxicological assessments of the chemical constituents in CCRs (e.g., arsenic, cobalt, chromium).