The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been responsible for the cleanup of the U.S Tennessee Kingston plant spill and eight (8) years on, the team are doing great. In the initail planning stage the team grouped engireers together to develop an innovative method of storing the fly ash.

Jamie North combines the co/by products of industry and native Australian flora species to create sculptural installations that explore the simultaneous concurrence and conflict between man-made architectural structures and the biological world.

Australia will be one step closer to achieving its environmenal sustrainability targets if we can effectively manage new industries using by-products as resources from old industries. It is in this space that an Australian fly ash industry may emerge, bringing with it innovative leaders and entrepreneurs to incorporate fly ash as an integral part of their business. 

The following Standards Australia publication has been released: AS 1141.22-2008 Amd 1 - Methods for sampling and testing aggregates - Wet/dry strength variation

Concrete 2017 will be the 28th Biennial National Conference of the Concrete Institute of Australia and will be held in the beautiful city of Adelaide, South Australia.  

Please note that the following amendments were published on the 8th April 2016.

This year the Asian Coal Ash Association will hold the Coal Ash Asia 2016 Conference from the 22-26 September in Shouzhou, Shanxi Province, China. Coal Ash Asia 2016 features 3 days of conference, seminars, exhibition and business matching.

The burning of coal to make electricity creates two major by-products, fly ash and CO2 from smoke stacks. The ADAA and its members are currently doing everything possible to increase the utilisation of fly ash in the hopes of lessening the impact of burning coal on the environment. Although the utilisation of fly ash has been progressive, CO2 has been continuously viewed as a nuisance. Until now…

A 2nd Edition of Procurement of Construction Products – A guide to achieving compliance was released in November 2015.  The Guide now recognises 34 industry led product accreditation schemes and guidance information across a range of building product categories including reinforcing and structural steel, cementitious materials for concrete, wood products, glazing products, electrical products, fire safety services, plumbing products, insulation products, coating products and building products. The Guide is an important and valuable contribution to the efficiency and reliability of the building and construction industry. This Guide has been jointly developed by 30 key construction industry stakeholders and supported by many others. 

The Construction Materials Industry Conference will return to Melbourne in 2016. Celebrating CMIC's 10th anniversary, CMIC16 has a re-energised format that will attract more than 600 Australian and international delegates and guests from the heavy construction materials industry, suppliers and government.

AS/NZS 3582.1, AS 3582.2 and AS/NZS 3582.3 are now available for purchase through SAI Global from Friday, 12 February 2016.   

The Concrete Institute of Australia is kicking its 2016 workshop program on High Performance Concrete Floors and Pavements between March and April, Want to be part of it?

US based company, Southern Research is using $1 million in federal funding to develop and test a method to extract valuable rare earth elements (REEs) from coal fly ash, the minuscule waste particles captured by anti-pollution devices in coal-fired power plants. REEs are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust that are widely used because of their special properties.  Increasing interest and research is being conducted into extract these elements from coal combustion products (Coal ash).

There has long been a considerable demand for coal ash products in the UK construction and engineering sectors. The UKQAA (UK Quality Ash Association) recently produced its Ash Availability Report, which showed that since the turn of the century, the construction industry has typically consumed half of what’s produced annually. This rose to 70% in 2014 as the economy showed real signs of growth and the sustainability agenda became more important to specifiers.

The annual participants forum was held Thursday, 26 November 2015 – Friday, 27 November 2015 at the Australian Maritime Museum. A full report from CEO Craig Heidrich will be featured in the upcoming April Edition of Coal Ash Matters.

"Methods for sampling and testing aggregates-Coarse aggregate quality by visual comparison" AS 1141.30.1-2009 Amd 1 draft is open for public comment, and is due to close in four days. If you wish to make a comment, click on the link below for more information.

After almost two years since the New South Wales Government called for expressions of interest, the Vales Point Power Station previously owned by the NSW Government has been sold for one million dollars to Sunset Power International Pty Ltd. Newcastle Trades Hall Council secretary Daniel Wallace said it is crucial that workers' jobs are protected.

Recently The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Orbite a patent titled “Processes for Treating Fly Ash”. The patent covers selective extraction and recovery of valuable elements such as scandium, gallium, rare earths and rare metals, alumina, magnesium oxide and titanium dioxide from fly ash, a residue from coal combustion, using Orbite's chloride-based technology.

Alinta Energy today confirmed that its Flinders Operations will close on 31 March 2016, in line with previous guidance. Timing for this closure means that operational mining at Leigh Creek will cease on 17 November 2015 and the Augusta Power Stations plan to cease generation around 31 March 2016.

Fifteen Australian Standards documents have been released for Public Comment. All comments are submitted on the Standards Hub. Follow the link in the article to submit your comments. If you have any queries regarding the submission of comments, contact Australian Standards (contact details provided in artcile).

At the recent Concrete 2015 Conference at Albert Park, Melbourne the Ash Development Association of Australia (ADAA) was awarded 'Highly Commended' in the Technology Category for the 2015 Awards for Excellence in Concrete.

Running blog for Concrete 2015!

At the upcoming Concrete 2015 Conference hosted by the Concrete Institute of Australia, the ADAA's CEO, Craig Heidrich will present to an audience of over 500. His presentation will cover "Challenges Contemporizing Australian Standards: Supplementary Cementitious Materials."

We recently caught up with Craig Mellick the Principal Materials Technologist from BG&E Materials Technology to have a chat about the recent projects being undertaken across the globe.

The 2016 conference will address the many diverse aspects of concrete technology including materials, sustainability, techniques, research and development, design, practice and economics. Papers will be drawn from all over the world bringing together many disciplines, reflecting concrete’s importance, versatility and adaptability.