Fly Ash Supplier
Heidelberg Materials is investing in the expertise and technology to continuously develop fly ash operations by evaluating the best concrete mixtures for different applications and weather conditions.
Industry Ecology Set in Concrete
Industrial ecology is a way of looking at manufacturing processes as natural ecosystems. The waste of one industrial process becomes the input or raw material for another. There’s no better example of industrial ecology than the use of fly ash to supplement or replace some of the Portland Cement used in concrete. In addition to lowering energy consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and saving natural resources, fly ash makes concrete stronger and more durable.
Our Heidelberg Materials locations with fly ash supplies are in the southeast states of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee, next in Pennsylvania and then in our Northwest Region to include Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Washington State, are fly ash distributors. In most of our other regions as we manufacture and sell Slag Cement as a supplementary cementing material (SCM). Heidelberg Materials has fly ash storage and distribution networks to ensure customers have a sustainable and reliable supply.
Waste as Resource
Fly ash is a byproduct of coal combustion in electric power plants. It’s the very fine ash recovered from exhaust gases by emission-control systems. Fly ash is a Pozzolan, a mineral admixture and a supplementary cementitious material (or SCM) that provides concrete with performance benefits such as water tightness and long-term durability.
Volcanic ash, similar to today’s fly ash in its chemistry, was used as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete dating back to the Roman Empire. This natural Pozzolan was used in structures that have lasted for thousands of years.
Fly ash is the most widely used SCM, and has been added to concrete since the 1930s. It can supplement cement on its own or used in conjunction with other SCM in blended cements.
Fly ash typically needs no processing and can be delivered from the power plants directly to the ready mixed concrete producer, where it is mixed with traditional ingredients of cement, aggregates and water. Concrete with fly ash is used for all types of construction projects.
As coal fired electric power plants transition to other means to produce energy, the availability of the by-product ash (or fresh fly ash) that is usable for concrete mixtures begins to get tight in the markets. Heidelberg Materials acquired Southeast Fly Ash (SEFA) company the leader in beneficiation of coal combustion ash ponds and impoundments. The coal ash beneficiation is often referred to as harvested fly ash. These new operations help keep fly ash availability up for the concrete markets.
More than half of all concrete is made with at least some fly ash as a substitute for part of the cement. Builders routinely use 40 percent fly ash concrete mixes, and the replacement amounts reach as high as 70 percent for some types of construction.
Linking Environmental Benefits with Performance
Fly ash is not just filler. Its benefits are both environmental and performance related. Fly ash can make concrete stronger and more durable. It contributes to sustainable construction by conserving natural resources and lowering energy consumption and emissions.
Each ton of fresh fly ash used to replace Portland cement saves approximately one ton of carbon dioxide emissions and approximately 0.882 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are avoided. Fly ash use in North American is equivalent to removing more than 2.5 million cars from the road every year.
Environmental Benefits
- Removes Coal Ash from the Environment
- Reduces Use of Limited Natural Resources
- Lowers Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Producing Cement
Structural Benefits
- Improves Durability of Infrastructure
- Reduces the Effect of Water on Concrete
- Improves the Strength of Concrete Roads, Bridges, and Buildings
Economic Benefits
- Lowers Costs of Impoundment Closures
- Extends Replacement Timeline for Concrete Infrastructure
- Reduces Repair Costs with Longer Lasting Roads and Bridges
Fly Ash doesn’t only contribute to sustainable construction, when properly specified and applied in concrete it can:
- Improve resistance to sulfate attack
- Improve resistance to Alkali Aggregate Reactivity (AAR)
- Decrease permeability
- Reduce shrinkage and thermal cracking
- Lower heat of hydration over straight cement
- Improve workability
- Improve pumpability
- Increase 56-day strength