• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.472-486
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• 2015

More than 8M tons of coal ashes are generated from coal-fired thermal power plants every year in Korea. Excluding the recycled portion (Current recycling rate: approximately 70%), all of the generated coal ashes end up in coastal landfills. Currently, the difficulties faced in establishing new ash treatment fields are attributed to the concerns raised over the environmental impacts caused by the landfills at individual plant facilities. Given the number of coal-fired thermal power plants to be built in the future (reflected in the 7th Basic Plan for Long-term Electricity Supply and Demand), building new ash treatment fields or seeking a new treatment plan seems unavoidable. Based upon a review of coal ash and its management, this study concluded that the most effective and fundamental strategy to minimize the environmental impacts resulting from coal ash landfills is to avoid constructing new coal-fired powerplants and furthermore, suggests that the practice of beneficial use and recycling the produced coal wastes should be encouraged.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1992.10a
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• pp.69-74
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• 1992

The characteristics of the landfill of coal ash and ironwork wastes are investied by performing the basic geotechnical experiments and groundwater quality analyses in the landfills. The results show that the waste materials themselves have good characteristics that can be used as reclamation materials. However, landfills need either some ground improvement or costly foundation and excavation methods to be used as construction sites, because of the careless management during the period of waste disposal.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.73-78
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• 2009

Coal ash is a by-product of the combustion of pulverized coal, and much of this is dumped in landfills. The disposal of coal ash is one of the major issues for environmental problems. In this paper, the effects of the kinds and replacement ratio of coal ash on the durabilities of concrete mixtures are investigated. Fine aggregate was replaced with coal ash(fly ash and bottom ash) in five different ratios, of 0%, 10%, 20%, 35%, and 50% by volume. Test results indicated that the compressive strength increased with the increase in fly ash percentage. The loss of compressive strength of bottom ash concrete mixes after immersion in sulphuric acid solution was less than in the control mix(BA0). In addition, the carbonation depth of fly ash concrete mixes was lower than the control mix(FA0).

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.563-573
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• 2017

Coal ash is generated from coal-fired thermal power plants every year. The remaining quantity of coal ash ends up in the landfills except for the recycled portion, and the existing ash pond capacity is limited almost. Currently, the difficulties are faced in building a new ash treatment plant because of the concerns about the environmental impacts of landfills at individual plant facilities. In terms of minimizing the environmental impact, the recycling and effective uses of coal ash are recognized as urgent issues to be challenged. Accordingly, this study examines the obstacles in expanding the recycling of the coal ash in South Korea and proposes solutions based on the case study analysis. The analysis results are as follows: 1) specific recycling guidelines and standards are required to be established in accordance with the contact medium (soil, ground water, surface water and sea water) and the chemical. 2) by providing the recognition environmentally safe in recycling the coal ash, transparency in establishing the planning stages and active communication with the community through promotion and research are essentially needed. 3) practical support system is required to encourage the power plant companies to use the coal ash as beneficial use.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2022

Bottom ash generated from thermal power plants is mainly disposed in landfills, from which metals may be leached by infiltrating water. To evaluate the effect of metals in leachate on soil and groundwater, we characterized bottom ash generated from burning cokes, bituminous coal, the mixture of bituminous coal and wood pellets, and charcoal powder. The bottom ash of charcoal powder had a relatively large particle size, and its wood texture was well-preserved from SEM observation. The bottom ash of charcoal powder and wood pellets had relatively high K concentration from total element analysis. The eluates of the bottom ash samples had appreciable concentrations of Ca, Al, Fe, SO₄, and NO₃, but they were not a significant throughout the batch test. Therefore, it is considered that there is low possibility of soil and groundwater contamination due to leaching of metal ions and anions from these bottom ash in landfills. To estimate the trend of various trace elements, long-term monitoring and additional analysis need to be performed while considering the site conditions, because they readily adsorb on soil and aquifer substances.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 2013

The recycling of coal bottom ash generated from coal power plants in Korea has been limited due to heterogenous characteristics of the materials. The most common management option for the ash is disposal in landfills (i.e. ash pond) near ocean. The presence of large coarse and fine materials in the ash has prompted the desire to beneficially use it in an application such as fill materials. Prior to reuse application as fill materials, the potential risks to the environment must be assessed with regard to the impacts. In this study, a total of nine test cells with bottom ash samples collected from pretreated bottom ash piles and coal ash pond in a coal-fired power plant were constructed and operated under the field conditions to evaluate the leachability over a period of 210 days. Leachate samples from the test cells were analyzed for a number of chemical parameters (e.g., pH, salinity, electrical conductance, anions, and metals). The concentrations of chemicals detected in the leachate were compared to appropriate standards (drinking water standard) with dilution attenuation factor, if possible, to assess potential leaching risks to the surrounding area. Based on the leachate analysis, most of the samples showed slightly high pH values for the coal ash contained test cells, and contained several ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, and nitrate in relatively large quantities. Three elements (aluminum, boron, and barium) were commonly detected above their respective detection limits in a number of leachate samples, especially in the early leaching period of time. The results of the test cell study indicate that the pollutants in the leachate from the coal ash test cells were not of a major concern in terms of leaching risk to surface water and groundwater under field conditions as fill materials. However, care must be taken in extending these results to actual applications because the results presented in this study are based on the limited field test settings and time frame. Structural characteristics and analysis for coal bottom ash may be warranted to apply the materials to actual field conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.03b
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• pp.528-535
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• 2000

Solid waste incinerator is expected to become widely used in Korea. The incineration of solid waste produces large quantities of bottom and fly ash, which has been disposed of primary by landfilling. However, as landfills become undesirable other disposal method are being sought. In this study, an experimental research is conducted to determine the geotechnical properties of municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash(MSWIF) in order to evaluate the feasibility of using the material for geotechnical applications. Basic pysicochemical characteristics, moisture-density relationship, strength, permeability, and leaching characteristics are examined. The results of MSWIF are compared to other MSWIF and coal fly ash which are used as construction material. In addition, the effectiveness of cement stabilization is investigated using various mix ratios. The result of stabilized mixes are compared to the unstabilized material. Cement stabilization is found to be very effective in reducing permeability, increasing strength, and immobilizing heavy metals. This results indicate that MSWIF with cement stabilization may be used effectively for geotechnical application.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.359-362
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• 2000

From a practical perspective, sustainable development requires the optimization of current natural resources and the minimization of derived wastes. A major concern with respect to sustainable infrastructure development is the continued depletion of easily-available natural resources and environmental matters are more serious, the concerned about waste materials which are inevitably produced in the manufacturing of the product is getting worse. These wastes must be handled and properly disposed, and many times, although this waste may be environmentally inert, it has been discarded in landfills. But current disposal methods of these by-products create not only a loss of profit for the power industry, but also environmental concerns the breed negative public opinion. therefore, this study evaluates the ECO artificial aggregate and bricks were designed and tested for the end use of fly ash.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1996.12a
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• pp.97-101
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• 1996

Municipal and sanitary landfills can pose environmental problems due to leachate, landfill gas md unstable geotechnical properties. Most governmental bodies delay the correction of landfill problems or landfill replacement until a crises stage is reached. The replacement of a landfill is often made difficult due to costly regulatory controls, public opposition to siting and the high cost of closure for the previous landfill unit. Solutions to extending landfill life and capacity Involve waste minimization by recycling, refuse compaction and waste-to-energy incineration. Incineration can reduce the volume of refuse by 50-95%. The largest installed bases of municipal waste Incinerators are located in Japan and the U.S. The volume of waste contained in a landfill can be estimated by load count tabulations, weight-and-volume measurements or a material balance analysis based on the trash profile of user categories. for an existing landfill, core samples may be collected and analyzed for use in a material balance analysis. Newly generated refuse contains approximately 50% of the heating value of coal. However, landfill properties vary significantly due to the waste profile of the contributors and biodegradation due to time and weathering. The volume of the Nanji-do landfill

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.290-298
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• 2021

This study was conducted to evaluate the possibility of applying phytoremediation technology by investigating soil and native plants in waste coal landfills exposed to heavy metal contamination for a long period of time. The ability of native plants to accumulate heavy metals using greenhouse cultivation experiments was alse evaluated. Plants were investigated at an abandoned coal mine in Hwajeolyeong, Jeongseon, Gangwon-do. Two species of native plants (Carex breviculmis. R. B. and Salix koriyanagi Kimura ex Goerz.) located in the study area and three Korean native plants (Artemisia japonica Thunb. Hemerocallis hakuunensis Nakai., and Saussurea pulchella (Fisch.) Fisch.) were cultivated in a greenhouse for 12 weeks in artificially contaminated soil. Soils contaminated with arsenic and lead were generated with arsenic concentration gradients of 25, 62.5, 125, and 250 mg kg^-1 and lead concentration gradients of 200, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg kg^-1, respectively. Results showed that none of the five plants could survive at high arsenic concentration treatment (125 and 250 mg kg^-1) and some plants died in 2000 mg kg^-1 lead concentration treatment soil. The plant translocation factor (TF) was highest in H. hakuunensis in arsenic treatments, and A. japonica in lead treatments, respectively. The bioaccumulation factor (BF) of plants was more than 1 in all species in arsenic treatment, whereas it was highest in H. hakuunensis. BF for all species was less than 1 in lead treatment. Particularly, in 2000 mg kg^-1 concentration lead treatment, A. japonica accumulated more than 1000 mg kg^-1 lead and was expected to be a lead hyperaccumulator. In conclusion, A. japonica and H. hakuunensis were excellent in the accumulation of arsenic heavy metals, and S. koriyanagi was excellent in lead accumulation ability. Therefore, the above mentioned three plants are considered to be strong contenders for application of the phytoremediation technology.