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.

Every year, the Concrete Institute of Australia recognizes outstanding achievements in concrete structures and concrete technology with the presentation of their Awards for Excellence in Concrete. There are various categories for which the awards are presented, including Project, Technology, International and Sustainability. These categories are further divided into Building and Engineering projects within each state.

“Phosphorus can be extracted in viable quantities from fly ash. Sufficient phosphorus could be recovered from the country’s incinerators to meet 30 percent of the Swedish annual demand for mineral fertilisers, say the researchers.”

We were lucky enough to have an Australian win the award for “Most Outstanding Student Oral presentation" at WOCA 2015. Ali Kiani, from the University of Newcastle Callaghan, NSW presented on Upgrading of Cenospheres in Fly Ash using as series of Inverted Reflux Classifiers. 

Coal Ash Asia 2015 (CAA2015) will be held in Beijing, China from the 20th to the 24th of September. There is one month left for early bird registration, which provides a 25% discount on the comprehensive attendance package. 

Dubai has taken another step to reducing their environmental footprint by announcing a switch to Green Concrete that includes a mix of 66% by-product (minimum), such as fly ash (FA).

We want your feedback, thoughts and ideas about Coal Ash Matters and how we can improve it for you in the future to further promote the use of coal combustion products in Australia. Results from this short five minute survey will be published in a coming edition of Coal Ash Matters.

In 2015, the CRC for Low Carbon Living continues to forge ahead with its innovative research on geopolymer concrete as one of the most promising high volume applications of fly ash. Another project submitted to the CRC-LCL in 2014 aimed to gather field data from geopolymer real-life constructions to develop greater confidence in geopolymer use. Using the field and laboratory data, a comprehensive Handbook for geopolymer specification will be developed and published through Standards Australia. 

With the Olympics just around the corner the developers for the Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Olympics are facing the task of completing the 34 venues and stadiums spread across the city by 2016. In 2013 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) agreed that the construction of the new venues needed to include by-products such as fly ash and achieve 100% local sustainability targets.

New regulation focuses on a range of measures to strengthen environmental controls which are designed to ensure a level playing field for industry and breaks the business model of rogue operators in NSW. Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2014, which came into effect in November 2014, has required some changes to the existing Coal Ash Exemption for coal combustion products (CCPs) used in NSW.

The Omega Bridge is over 340 metres long and is the lynchpin for the $329 million Princess Highway upgrade. The Bridge was constructed using the same method as the Sea Cliff Bridge construction in 2005. Fly ash was crucial to the completion of the project.

Global Independent Review: Commercial recovery of metals from coal ashes. This UK based author reviews over 300 papers and interviews with 28 expert globally to evaluate commercial activities in this area. It profiles 17 of the leading players globally that are commercialising metal recovery technologies relevant to coal ashes. It also provides an overview of ash volumes, current uses, metal content data and valuations, and leading ash characterisation experts, as well as exploring political, social, environmental, regulatory and supply issues.