Coal Power Plant Energy By‑Products
The ash coming from the combustion processes taking place in CEZ's coal power plants is suitable, in particular, for utilization in landscaping after an extensive coal excavation, in re-cultivation, and structural layers of roads and other ground surface communications. Ash components (ash and slag) are utilized in construction material production, e.g. cement, concrete and mortar mixtures, and wall building materials. Processed ash is utilized as both structural and filling material of waste deposits, as equivalent substitution for natural clays. Power plant gypsum originating in combustion gas desulphuring is demanded for raw material production of cement, plaster and related products, as well as an equivalent substitution for natural raw materials.
A dry-state delivery of energy by-products and their components provide for direct use of such products at customers, and utilization of specific properties of such products for, in addition, recultivation of sludge sediment basins, as well as for shaping of landscape contours, in accordance with requirements applicable within a particular location. Additionally, the dry-state delivery technology includes central mixing plants for a mixture preparation according to various recipes, adapted for purposes of mixture utilization.
Changes in energy by-product management are reflecting into registration systems maintained according to the Waste Act and enable the CEZ, a.s. to reduce the quantity of waste to be disposed of, and deposit the waste instead, for a fee or a contractual price.
In 2000, nearly 28 % more energy by-products from CEZ coal power plants were utilized, in comparison to the data from 1993. By 1999, e.g., 50 mil. m2 of gypsum plasterboards was produced from CEZ combustion gas desulphurization gypsum, in the Czech Republic.
Land Clean-Up and Reclamation
In 2012, reclamation work continued at sites in the vicinity of CEZ Group conventional power plants (ash and other waste dumps, settling ponds, etc.). In 2012, over 8.2 million tons of certified power generation by-products (PGBPs) were utilized in land reclamation. These power generation by-products are primarily ash, products of the semi-dry flue gas desulfurization process, and synthetic gypsum from the wet limestone scrubbing process of flue gas purification. CEZ Group produced a total of over 9.9 million tons of PGBPs in the course of generating power and heat in 2012. Of the total amount of PGBPs, over 99% was used in the form of certified products (over 82% in land reclamation and landscape creation), while a negligible amount was disposed of as waste in accordance with the Waste Act.