ACAA发布2002年燃煤产品生产和使用数据ACAA Releases 2002 Coal Combustion Products Production and Use Figures

煤炭燃烧产物——通常被称为“煤灰”——是煤炭燃烧发电时产生的固体物质。有很多很好的理由将煤灰视为一种资源，而不是一种浪费。使用它可以节约自然资源和能源。在很多情况下，用煤灰制成的产品比不用煤灰制成的产品效果更好。

随着美国约三分之一的电力继续由煤炭生产，大量的煤灰被生产出来。自1968年以来，美国煤灰协会一直跟踪所有类型煤灰的生产和使用情况。这些调查的目的是显示广泛的利用模式，ACAA的数据已被业界和许多政府机构接受为有益使用实践的最佳可用指标。

2016年生产的56%的煤灰被回收利用，创造了新的记录，标志着美国生产的超过一半的煤灰被有益利用，而不是被丢弃。混凝土中粉煤灰的使用量下降了8%，为1440万吨。与2015年创纪录的1570万吨相比有所下降，但仍远高于2014年的1310万吨。2016年的利用率下降是由于一些地区的季节性供应短缺，这是由于发电厂关闭和发电概况的变化造成的。由于与天然石膏的竞争加剧，发电厂排放控制设备生产的合成石膏在墙板和农业应用中的使用量有所下降。

Coal combustion products – often referred to as “coal  ash”– are solid materials produced when coal is burned  to generate electricity. There are many good reasons to  view coal ash as a resource, rather than a waste. Using  it conserves natural resources and saves energy. In many  cases, products made with coal ash perform better than  products made without it. 

As coal continues to produce approximately one-third of  the electricity generation in the United States, significant  volumes of coal ash are produced. Since 1968, the  American Coal Ash Association has tracked the production and use of all types of coal ash. These surveys are  intended to show broad utilization patterns and ACAA’s  data have been accepted by industry and numerous government agencies as the best available metrics of beneficial use practices.

Fifty-six percent of the coal ash produced during 2016  was recycled – establishing a new record and marking  the second consecutive year that more than half of the  coal ash produced in the United States was beneficially  used rather than disposed. Use of coal fly ash in concrete  declined 8 percent to 14.4 million tons. While down  from 2015’s record utilization of 15.7 million tons,  utilization remained well above the 13.1 million tons  performance in 2014. The dip in 2016 utilization is  attributed to some regional seasonal shortages of supply  that resulted from power plant shutdowns and changing  generating profiles. Use of synthetic gypsum produced  by power plant emissions control equipment decreased  in wallboard and agricultural applications as a result of  increased competition from natural gypsum.