As Vietnam develops its thermal power plant system to meet increasing energy demands, the country faces a new environmental risk arising from the waste generated by those plants. (Photo: baohaiquan.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – Coal ash inventory generated byVietnam’ thermal power plants amounted to 25.2 million tonnes last year, whilethe number factories are still on the rise, raising an alarm of no more roomfor storage in the next few year.
According to the Department of Industrial Safety andEnvironment (DISE) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2017, thermalpower plants generated up to 12.2 million tones of coal ash, while treatingonly 4 million tonnes.
The amended master plan for electricity development for2011-2020 with a vision to 2030 says that 46 coal-fired power plants will be inoperation by 2030 with a total designed capacity of 41,500 MW. So in the nextfew years, without any feasible solutions, the amount of ash could increase tothe point that there is no room for storage.
DISE Deputy Director Pham Trong Thuc said the generation ofthermoelectricity was one of the biggest sources of waste.
To produce 1kWh of electricity using coal dust, from 0.9 to1.5kg of coal ash will be emitted. Thus, coal ash generated annually from the23 operational thermal power plants measures about 12.2 million tonnes. Thenorth of the country is home to 60 percent of the plants, while the central regionhas 21 percent and the south 19 percent.
Therefore, it was important to have an accurate assessmentof the issue in order to develop a comprehensive and efficient policy for themanagement, transportation and disposal of coal ash from thermal power plants, Thucsaid.
He added that although the Government and ministriesencouraged the use of coal ash and boiler slag for the production of cement andother materials in construction, the amount of ash had increased rapidlybecause the production process faced obstacles and products were difficult tosell.
The first reason was that most people and constructionenterprises are wary of the quality of unburnt brick made from coal ash.
Additionally, the country lacked technical regulations forthe treatment and use of coal ash and boiler slag in construction, while manylegal documents on management are not suitable. For example, at the Dong TrieuThermo Power Plant in the northern province Quang Ninh, the average annual ash outputof Mao Khe Thermal Power Plant is about 650,000 tonnes. However, only about 17percent of the ash is used in the production of non-baked materials and as acement additive.
Associate Professor Bach Dinh Thien, an expert from theTropical Building Materials Research Institute said that if coal ash and boilerslag were treated well, Vietnam could annually save millions of tonnes ofminerals, hundreds of hectares of storage areas and protect the environmentfrom solid waste.
The Ministry of Construction has issued Circular 13regulating the use of unbaked building materials, which took effect from thebeginning of February this year.
Under the circular, state-funded enterprises in Hanoi and HoChi Minh City must use 100 per cent of unburnt building materials. Those inlowland, midland and south eastern areas must use at least 90 percent, and inthe remaining areas at least 70 percent.
In March this year, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dungworked with concerned ministries to discuss solutions for processing coal ashand boiler slag, and resolve difficulties towards creating more favourableconditions in the management, use and consumption of ash and slag.-VNA
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