- Thread starter Mm530
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Punta Catalina power plant generates enormous piles of contaminating rock ash !😫🤦🏻♂️
It's called Fly Ash and it can be used as an additive in concrete, (Type C & F) and the rate is 1/2 lb per lb of Portland cement. Increases strength and flow. Most cement block fabricators use it.
Type F fly ash has a higher glass content and this type is used as a soil supplement which can increase agricultural yields by significant percentages.
It is also used as a soil stabilization in construction (not used in areas where soil leaching is an issue).
And if used in asphalt road construction it increases strength, reduces pores and increases wearability of the surface.
So Fly Ash used properly is a commodity.
Type F fly ash has a higher glass content and this type is used as a soil supplement which can increase agricultural yields by significant percentages.
It is also used as a soil stabilization in construction (not used in areas where soil leaching is an issue).
And if used in asphalt road construction it increases strength, reduces pores and increases wearability of the surface.
So Fly Ash used properly is a commodity.
When they find a huge natural gas supply on the island they can pipe it and convert the plant (not likely). They could burn fuel oil like they do in Puerto Rico but it's not good either and more expensive and more prone to facility fires.
Yes it's not an easy issue to solve but the world needs to move away from coal. Methylmercury pollution in the environment throughout the world is primarily from burning coal for power generation. Many people that consume large amounts of fish such as mahi mahi, tuna, sea bass, grouper, etc (those fish high on the food chain) all have elevated levels of methylmercury in their bodies. It tends not to be an issue for adults as their nervous systems are fully developed but it's a really bad idea for children to consume fish that are high on the food chain due to the biogmagnification of methylmercury in their tissues. If you're going to eat fish, sardines are a good choice.
Here's a link regarding the consumption of fish here. A link regarding the health effects of methylmercury is here.
There are numerous instances in the US of water from fly ash leaching into the ground and contaminating groundwater. It's a huge environmental problem. There are uses for fly ash as noted in a comment above but it's a tiny fraction of the amount that is produced.
Scroll down to ecology on this wikipedia here for information about groundwater and other pollution.
I drove out to Pedernales 4 months ago and saw the wind farms the country has out there. The country has some excellent wind resources both onshore and offshore. The arid and unpopulated area west of Barahona would be perfect for a large solar installation. Battery storage technology is getting close. In the meantime, unless the Dom Rep can switch to natural gas, it looks like they are stuck with coal generation for the time being.
On a note you might find interesting, the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland has a quote, "twinkle twinkle little bat, how I wonder what you're at". It's a crazy little saying. Hatters in the old days used mercury to stiffen the brim and some suffered mercury poisoning and showed neurological problems (madness)
Again, the world needs to move away from coal for energy production.
Does anyone no if electrostatic precipitators were installed on the emission stacks? I’d be surprised if they were not installed. If installed and maintained properly fly ash emissions are not a problem. The residue is cleaned out and shipped to a stable landfill. The other alternative is to buy low sulphur coal to reduce the emissions. Many countries export good quality coal at cheap prices. The power plant next to Costambar was shut down for the same reasons. A company was brought in to fix the problem and failed.
Apparently they were not. There is a tender ongoing to install these. According to an interview with Enrique de Leon on Esta Noche con Mariasela last night, the tender is for filters that would not fully solve the problem. The expert called these economical filters.
Esta Noche con Mariasela
Esta Noche con Mariasela
That
That leads me to believe they are planning to install cyclonic filters. Basically very powerful fans that create circular winds in the emission stack chamber. The winds collect the ash before it leaves the stack. Less costly than electrostatic precipitation and less efficient. Some might say economical, some might say a quick cheap partial fix. Why proper filters weren’t included in the cost of initial construction is strange. Any good consulting engineer will tell you retrofitting is way more expensive. The current government is kicking the fly ash can down the road for the new government to handle. What’s frustrating is the blatant waste of DR taxpayers money by an evident lack of proper expertise in the design and construction stages. These grandiose projects turn into money pits and total failure is always looming on the horizon. Systemic corruption I suspect may be one of the underlying causes. We have one now in my province. The previous government built a hydroelectric facility that was originally estimated to cost 3.1 Billion and is peaking at 7.5 billion and not finished because the main contractor defaulted and left. The plant was built despite the warning that it would be a white elephant. The end result for us as electricity consumers is a potential quadrupling of power rates in the next five years.