Gerenciamento sustentável das cinzas da combustão de carvão mineral: um estudo de caso de uma termoelétrica em São Luís-MA

Abstract

The fly ash is a by-product from the combustion of coal which when it is an adequate control of some non-desulphurization process variables, can result in minor impacts and reuse of ash. The objective of this work is to promote the treatment of the fly ash generated by the burning of coal from a thermoelectric plant and to study a proposal to manage this residue in a sustainable way, based on the economic, environmental and social aspects. Thus, the optimization of the desulphurization process was carried out, and afterwards the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the losses of the fire (unbaked), sulfite, mineralogical analysis and classification of the residue generated by the combustion and desulphurization of Mineral coals of different sulfur contents and studies of economic and environmental gain were also carried out. The results showed that after the optimization of some variables in the process of flue gas desulphurization, such as: concentration of calcium hydroxide solution in 10%, flow rate of calcium hydroxide solution in 3.0 m3/h, of virgin lime in the desulfurization system at 0.3 ton/h and the temperature of the exhaust gases in the absorber tower in the range of 80°C to 110 °C, fly ash formation showed acceptable parameters for sulfite content (<5 %) and loss in ignition (<6%); in addition, mineralogical analysis confirmed that light ash presents compositions mainly of silicon, aluminum and iron oxides, which characterizes them as pozzolanic materials qualified for use in the cement industry. The results of the economic gain studies showed reductions in disposal costs of this residue in the range of 18.5 higher than the revenue from the sale of this same residue, the results of environmental gain also showed a reduction of 24,740.30 tons of CO2 and a reduction in the consumption of raw water in the range of 59,376.72 m3, due to the reuse of the light ashes in the incorporation of the cement in the year of 2016. In addition to converging to the guidelines for compliance with the National Policy on Solid Waste.