Project Title
APPLICATION OF FLY ASH AS A LIGHT-FRAME WOOD HOUSE INSULATOR
Status
The project is completed and the final report has been submitted.
Dates
May 1, 2006 – April 30, 2007
Purpose
The purpose of this project was to investigate the viability of using class C fly ash combined with recycled car tire fibers as a supplement to regular fly ash insulation. This included both the constructability and cost savings associated with its application.
Utility Name and Address
Platte River Power Authority (Platte River)
2000 East Horsetooth Road
Fort Collins, Colorado 80525-5721 USA
970.226.4000
Utility Description
Utility Size: Platte River Power Authority is a wholesale electric utility. Because of this, it has just four customers. These include the municipalities of Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont, and
Loveland, Colorado.
Annual load per class: The annual load based on the latest 12 months ending December 31, 2007 is a peak demand of 634,671 kW and energy of 3,146,993 kWh. These figures represent sales to the municipalities. Additional demand and energy for Platte River's total system was 30,000 kW demand (firm sale commitment at time of municipal peak demand) and 1,142,686 kWh energy as sales to others, which includes other electric utilities in the area.
Services Offered: Sales of power and energy to four constituent municipalities; energy efficiency services in conjunction with four municipalities; and transmission services to other electric utilities.
Generation Sources: (Excerpted from Platte River’s Web site): “Platte River uses several sources of electric capacity to meet its wholesale obligations to its four owner municipalities, including:
(1) federal hydropower delivered via purchase from Western Area Power Administration, (2) the coal-fired Yampa Project near Craig, Colorado, (Platte River owns 18% of Units 1 and 2, (3) the
274 MW (net) coal-fired Rawhide Energy Station Unit 1, (4) four natural gas-fired combustion turbines -- Units A, B, C, and D, at the Rawhide site, (5) ten wind turbines operating near
Medicine Bow, Wyoming, and (6) purchases from the wholesale electricity market in the region.
To deliver these sources, Platte River owns either wholly or jointly about 700 miles of transmission lines and multiple substations.”
Key Personnel & Phone Numbers
Platte River Power Authority - Bill Emslie (970-229-5377) and Jon Little (970-229-5352).
CSU – John W. van de Lindt (970-491-6605) ; Paul R. Heyliger (970-491-6685) ; and Antonio
Carraro (970-491-4660).
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Project Subject Areas
Wood; residential buildings; fly ash; insulation; R-Factor.
Results to Date
The primary conclusion was that the increase in R-factor for light-frame wood walls was approximately 2. If the fly ash could be air entrained this would significantly increase.
Description
Finding a power generation solution to the ever increasing world demand for electricity that is ecological, economical, and efficient, has long been elusive. Traditionally, the answer has resided in any method which would bring power to the masses, cheaply and in bulk. To this end, the negative ecological effects are felt to be outweighed by the economic ease of coal power generation. Each year, nearly two-thirds of the fly ash produced by coal burning power plants is disposed of in landfills and ash ponds. This percentage equates to approximately 40 million tons in the United States and hundreds of mega-tons in India and China. This report provides a comprehensive definition of fly ash waste and the problems associated with it, to initiate the reader into a more detailed understanding of the problem statement, as well as a segue to a solution of creating a use for the waste stream products of manufacturing and power generation facilities. The work contained herein quantifies the increase in thermal efficiency of a lightframe residential structure that has been augmented with a fly ash composite insulation as compared to a “traditional” fiberglass insulated house. This is accomplished using Fourier’s law of conductive heat transfer, assuming a one dimensional, steady-state conductive heat transfer problem. The solution found empirically is then extrapolated to two different, larger scale house plans to quantify the typical cost savings and increase in efficiency that could be expected in an environment similar to the one in which the testing was performed, i.e. Northern Colorado, as well as three other regions of the United States.
Background
Help divert fly ash from land fills while providing an increase in the energy efficiency of residential buildings.
Applicability
If a simpler application process on the walls can be developed, the cost-benefit of applying fly ash to the walls is reasonable. The process or related products would need to be commercialized.
Alternatives
Checking the fire proofing of wood walls using FA would further justify its application.
Diagram
None.
Equipment
None significant, just supplies.
Performance
R-factor data is included in the report, as well as detailed cost benefit analysis for typical single family dwellings in several different regions of the U.S.
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Future Plans
The PI plans to investigate FA as a possible fire retardant for residential buildings and lightframe commercial buildings.
Budget
Colorado State University was an in-kind contributor to the project.
Platte River Power Authority contributed and coordinated the donation of Fly Ash
Labor - $15K
Supplies - $10K
Indirect - $5K
Additional Notes
None
References
ACAA, American Coal Ash Association “Fly ash facts for highway engineers”. Federal Highway
Association Report FHWA-IF-03-019, 2003.
ASTM, American Standards for Testing and Materials, Standard D698 “Standard Test Methods for Laboratory Compaction Characteristics of Soil Using Standard Effort”. Book of
Standards, volume 04.08. March, 2000.
ASTM, American Standards for Testing and Materials, Standard D4643 “Standard Test Method for Determination of Water Content of soil by the microwave oven heating”. Book of
Standards, volume 04.08. February, 2000.
ASTM, American Standards for Testing and Materials, Standard C177 “Standard Test Method for Steady-State Heat Flux Measurements and Thermal Transmission Properties by Means of the Guarded-Hot-Plate Apparatus”. Book of Standards, volume 04.06. March, 2004.
ASTM, American Standards for Testing and Materials, Standard D7024 “Standard Test Method for Steady State and Dynamic Thermal Performance of Textile Materials”. Book of
Standards, volume 07.02. March , 2004.
ASTM, American Standards for Testing and Materials, Standard D3080 “Standard Test Method for Direct Shear Test of Soils Under Consolidated, Drained Conditions”. Book of
Standards, volume 04.08. 1998.
ASTM, American Standards for Testing and Materials, Standard C67 “Standard Test Methods for Sampling and Testing Brick and Structural Clay Tile”. Book of Standards, volume
04.05. March, 2004.
ASTM, American Standards for Testing and Materials, Standard C39 “Standard Test Method for
Compressive Strength of Cylindrical Concrete Specimens”. Book of Standards, volume
04.02, March, 2004.
ASTM, American Standards for Testing and Materials, Standard C496 “Standard Method of Test for Splitting Tensile Strength of Cylindrical Concrete Specimens”. Book of Standards, volume 04.02, March, 2004.
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Criswell, M. E. “Evaluation of Civil Engineering Materials”. Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, 2006.
Dry, Carolyn. “Microstructure Optimization of Sintered Fly Ash / Acid Composition for Use as
Structural Thermal Insulation in Buildings”. School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, 1996.
EIA, Energy Information Administration, Cost of electricity per kilowatt-hour in the US, 2005. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html
Federal Register, 40 CFR Part 261, “Regulatory Determination on Wastes from the Combustion of Fossil Fuels; Final Rule”. Volume 65, Number 99. May 22, 2000.
PRPA, Platte River Power Authority, http://www.prpa.org/energysources/rawhide.htm (2007).
Stewart, J. Personal communication with Dr. John van de Lindt, 2006.
Weiss, P. http://www.sciencenews.org Volume 155, Number 18, May 1, 1999.
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_ash (2007).
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