Companies to invest in harvesting plant to
beneficially reuse millions of tons of coal ash to be used in Green
Cement across the Southeast region
SOUTH
JORDAN, Utah and MOBILE,
Ala., Jan. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Eco Material
Technologies ("Eco Material" or the "Company"), the leading
producer of sustainable cementitious materials and near-zero carbon
cement replacement products in North
America, announced today a collaboration with Alabama Power,
a subsidiary of Southern Company, to harvest millions of tons of
stored ash from Plant Barry, a coal- and natural gas-fired
electrical generation facility in Bucks,
Alabama. This project is the third such harvesting plant
with Southern Company, following Plants Bowen and Branch in
Georgia.
Under the agreement, Eco Material will harvest more than 700,000
tons of stored ash per year from the plant. The effort will remove
and beneficially use millions of tons of ash over the term of the
agreement.
"Southern Company and its subsidiaries are critical in Eco
Material's long-term strategy to invest in and upgrade sustainable
sources of cementitious input materials to offset the
high-intensive carbon emissions of the North American cement
industry," said Grant Quasha, CEO of
Eco Material Technologies. "This collaboration with Alabama Power
is a paragon for both the environment and concrete builders, and we
should expect more companies across the country to follow Southern
Company's lead in the beneficial reuse of their fly ash for
products like Green Cement."
The Plant Barry process will be similar to the Plant Branch
harvesting plant announced recently with Georgia Power, utilizing
Eco Material's in-house ES EcoSystem Efficient Carbon Offloading™
technology. The ES EcoSystem Efficient Carbon Offloading™
technology is a proprietary solution that offers a lower-cost and
greener process to reduce high carbon content in landfilled and
ponded coal ash, bringing it up to required specification for use
in concrete and other building materials.
The ash from Barry will be used in concrete blends to repair and
construct bridges, roads, and buildings in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana, reducing dependence on imported
materials with a proudly Made in the USA recycled product. Plant Barry will be
the sixth ash harvesting and beneficiation facility operated by Eco
Material and will add to the Company's portfolio of novel
supplementary cementitious material projects that include natural
pozzolan beneficiation as well as Green Cement production.
The ash Eco Material will harvest from Plant Barry enhances
the strength, impermeability and durability of concrete. In
common practice, the material will replace 20-25% percent of
carbon-intensive portland cement in concrete mixes with Eco
Material's proprietary technologies allowing up to 100%
replacement. Portland cement, and the concrete industry as a whole,
currently account for approximately eight percent of global
carbon emissions.
"Alabama Power has a long history of recycling coal ash from its
plants for beneficial use in products like concrete and other
construction materials," said Brandon
Dillard, Alabama Power senior vice president and senior
production officer, West Production Group. "We're very pleased that
this collaboration with Eco Material will expand our ability to
harvest coal ash at the plant and contribute to development of
materials that impact the growth of our state."
Construction of the Plant Barry harvesting plant is expected to
begin in 2024. The new facility is expected to be in service by
Jan. 2026. Alabama Power and
Eco Material will build the processing plant within the permitted
boundary of the site where material will be excavated and
consolidated. The teams will then haul the material,
high-quality Class F fly ash, to the processing plant as needed
where it will be dried, screened and have excess carbon removed.
Ash that cannot be sold locally will be transported by rail to the
rest of the Southeast region.
The finished product from the harvesting plant will be conveyed
to the existing truck loadout silos for loading into either truck
or rail where RestoreAir® can be applied as needed. Eco Material's
RestoreAir® process uses a liquid reagent to pre-treat fly ash,
before delivery to customers, to neutralize activated carbon's air
entrainment. The ES EcoSystem Efficient Carbon Offloading™ approach
provides the flexibility to process a wide range of carbon content
and fineness found in the ash pond and keeps capital and processing
costs at a minimum when compared to other ash harvesting
projects.
The processing plant will run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and
will require a team of approximately 25 employees at full capacity
in addition to construction and other temporary jobs. Eco Material
expects the plant will quickly reach full capacity due to high
demand for fly ash in the region.
Eco Material has a portfolio of nine (9) plants producing or
under construction that represent over four (4) million tons per
annum of novel, beneficiated SCMs and Green Cement products to help
decarbonize the North American concrete market.
About Eco Material Technologies
Eco Material
Technologies is the leading producer of sustainable cement
alternatives in the U.S., serving over 4,000 unique customer
locations from its 100+ sites across 45 states. The Company is the
leading marketer and distributor of fly ash and other pozzolans,
with the industry's only true national footprint of logistics
networks and distribution channels. Eco Material also has patented
technology to convert fly ash and other materials into innovative,
near-zero carbon building materials that react faster, match the
one-day performance of, and after 28 days are approximately 20%
stronger than traditional cement, all while reducing by
approximately 99% the CO2 emissions that are traditionally
associated with cement production. The Company also provides
mission-critical utility services, including operations support,
waste disposal and environmental remediation. For more information,
visit www.ecomaterial.com.
About Alabama Power
Alabama Power, a subsidiary of
Atlanta-based Southern Company
(NYSE:SO), America's premier energy company, provides reliable,
affordable electricity to 1.5 million customers across the state
and has been named #1 for large electric utility business customer
satisfaction in the south region, according to the J.D. Power 2023
Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study
[jdpower.com]℠. Learn more at alabamapower.com.
Media Contact for Eco Material:
Matthew Cossel
ecomaterial@kcsa.com
Media Contact for Alabama Power:
Beth Thomas
enweathe@southernco.com
251-422-3331
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SOURCE Eco Material Technologies Inc