FAQs
Below is a list of frequently asked questions. Click each dropdown to view the answers.
Below is a list of frequently asked questions. Click each dropdown to view the answers.
With over 30 years of proven experience, Charah Solutions is the industry leader in ash excavation and provides an unparalleled combination of extensive ash pond familiarity and breadth in service capabilities that includes a full suite of coal combustion residuals (CCR) management and recycling, environmental remediation, and outage maintenance services. Charah Solutions operates on a national scale that includes longstanding relationships with leading utility companies and independent power producers. Further, Charah Solutions has established a history of solving our customers’ most complex environmental challenges and has received numerous award recognitions for our exceptional quality, safety, and compliance record.
Charah Solutions will provide a dedicated team that will work for you to promote the use of coal combustion products (CCPs) produced at your station. We will diligently search and find opportunities that exist in the market to utilize CCPs from your station. In addition, Charah Solutions can provide beneficiation technology solutions in situations where the coal combustion residuals (CCRs) need processing and quality improvement to meet market specifications. Our experience and expertise in processing and marketing CCPs will maximize the value of your byproduct revenues.
Yes, Charah Solutions is experienced in managing large disposal sites and routinely handles millions of tons annually of coal combustion residuals (CCRs). We can also handle the design and installation needs for drainage, erosion control, synthetic liners and leachate collection systems, and perform permit record keeping for landfill sites. Compliance with the new CCR requirements can be assured with a Charah Solutions-designed operating plan that addresses each specific area of the landfill operation.
A structural fill is an engineered fill designed to improve land for an intended end use. Typically, the land is unusable for the intended end use unless fill material is imported to raise the elevation to fit the desired design. Due to its homogenous particle size, predictable geotechnical characteristics, low unit weight, relatively high shear strength and ease of handling and compaction, coal ash is an ideal material for such fills. Charah Solutions is highly experienced in the use of coal ash, placing it and compacting it in accordance with approved ASTM design criteria.
Charah Solutions completed a coal ash structural fill project at Asheville (North Carolina) Regional Airport. Click here to learn more about the construction process and components of a fully lined structural fill.
Charah Solutions offers one-stop services for your entire portfolio of Environmental Liability Transfer projects. Charah Solutions is able to provide innovative solutions to our customers that are now experiencing an increased need to retire and decommission older, un-utilized, or non-profitable generating assets while maximizing the value of the assets and eliminating environmental liabilities. This service enables our customers to potentially transfer an environmental liability from their balance sheet, while receiving maximum value of the assets along with contractual indemnification protection against regulatory changes, third party citizen suites, and environmental pollution. Charah Solutions has the financial resources to support the transaction, we have the skill to effectively manage the environmental risk as well as the team that can safely remediate your site, all while also substantially lowering your cost model. Charah Solutions reviews each site’s particular liabilities followed by a turnkey proposal that includes a remediation action plan and a re-purpose plan for the property. Our range of services for Environmental Liability Transfer and post-closure obligations include the following capabilities:
• Management of the entire project from site purchase to remediation and re-development.
• Remediation of the coal combustion residuals (CCR) ponds and landfills.
• Marketing of coal combustion products (CCPs).
• Demolition services to bring down the power plant structures and perform asbestos abatement.
• Relationships to assist in maximizing the scrap recovery of materials and equipment.
• Third party environmental services to perform due diligence prior to legal transfer of the property.
• Insurance relationships to assist with the assessment of risk, and utilize the best methods to maximize insurance protection.
• Design engineering for site remediation and third party CQA/CQC testing services.
• Assess site re-development potential and help manage the re-development process.
Yes. Our power plant maintenance and modifications team serves nuclear, coal, gas, hydro, and solar power generation facilities providing fully integrated solutions for plant maintenance and construction. We bring value-added, customized services to utilities in key areas including staff augmentation, operations and maintenance, construction, capital improvements and plant retrofits. Our approach is to ensure that clients can remained focused on their core business while we optimize the effectiveness of their capital and maintenance budgets.
We typically averages 2 to 4 million craft hours on an annual basis for some of the largest electric and nuclear providers in North America. In today’s competitive environment, access to qualified personnel for construction, maintenance, outages/shutdowns, and technical applications is critical for success. We leverage resources through our regional offices and strong craft following to meet these challenging demands.
Our approach to managing a construction project places a strong emphasis on self-perform construction tailored to fit local labor availability and capabilities, as well as the construction sequence and schedule. This involves close coordination with the design team to make sure the design is closely aligned with the construction plan. Using this integrated approach led by experienced supervision, we have a proven track record executing projects on a fast-track basis while still maintaining effective safety, cost, quality, and schedule controls.
Our proprietary MP618™ Multi-Process fly ash beneficiation technology utilizes a thermal beneficiation process to achieve a higher quality material that meets ATSM and state specification requirements for use in the production of Portland cement and concrete. The proven technology reduces loss on ignition (LOI), ammonia, activated carbon, mercury and other contaminants making your formerly unusable fly ash in current production or legacy ash stored in ponds or landfills immediately marketable. As a result, the need for landfills, ponds and other disposal methods will be reduced.
MP618 eliminates previously uncombusted carbon and a wide range of contaminants in raw fly ash material. Importantly, not only does this technology create a sustainable use for coal combustion residuals (CCRs) and save valuable landfill storage space, it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions by serving as a supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) in place of Portland cement. It is estimated that for each ton of beneficiated fly ash there is one ton of potential CO2 emissions eliminated from the atmosphere.
Our MP618™ Multi-Process technology offers distinguishable benefits compared to alternative technologies in many ways as described below:
• Significantly lower cost profile
• Efficient footprint with self-contained environmental controls that can be deployed in weeks versus years.
• Modular design that can be scaled up or down to increase production based on market demand, allowing for the production of 40,000 to 200,000 tons per year
• Equipment can be used to meet demand without requiring high volumes for cost effectiveness or self-sustaining operation
• Can be installed at operating power plants, non-operating power plants or off-site
• Enables the processing of kiln dust to remove mercury for emissions regulations compliance.
Its most impressive distinction is its ability to deliver all of these benefits at a significantly lower cost profile than competing technologies, combined with an efficient footprint.
We offer high-quality Class C fly ash, high-quality Class F fly ash, MultiCem™ slag cement, MultiPozz™ pozzolan, bottom ash, gypsum and IGCC slag. These materials are distributed through our MultiSource® materials network of nearly 40 nationwide locations with international sourcing and distribution as well as a national network of barge, rail and truck services which ensures a continuous and reliable supply of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) for ready mix concrete producers and other customers throughout the United States.
The main chemical components of fly ash are silica, alumina, iron and calcium oxides; all identical constituents of Portland cement. These common components contribute to added strength and durability of concrete.
Concrete manufactured with quality fly ash demonstrates the following technical advantages: added long term strength, durability, lower permeability, improved resistance to sulfate attack, increased pumpability and workability, and improved finish product quality. Additionally, concrete with fly ash is less expensive and more sustainable.
Our MultiPozz™ pozzolan, manufactured using our patented grinding technology, extends our complete portfolio of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), providing a continuous, reliable supply of pozzolan to concrete producers and other customers. It is produced by Charah Solutions’ proprietary grinding technology by converting natural pozzolans found in the earth, such as volcanic ash, into a highly desirable input for the production of Portland cement as it provides strength, durability, improved finish, and consistent performance in concrete. Because the supply of high-quality SCMs such as fly ash is limited in some regions of the country, the production of MultiPozz pozzolan, which meets ASTM and state specifications, is generating strong interest among concrete producers.
MultiPozz pozzolan is distributed through Charah Solutions’ unique MultiSource® materials network of nearly 40 nationwide sourcing locations which ensures a continuous and reliable supply of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), including quality Class C fly ash, Class F fly ash, pozzolan, bottom ash, gypsum and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) slag, for ready mix concrete producers and other customers throughout the United States.
Whether it is industrial raw materials for production use or quality cement manufacturing materials, Charah Solutions has a broad materials lineup and the technical expertise to source exactly what is needed. We provide the materials, backed by strong sales and technical support, efficient inventory management, customized options and door-to-door logistics covering every point on the globe.
Our industrial raw materials lineup includes a broad range of materials from iron source to industrial slag to iron rich materials (IRM), mill scale, steel slag, iron ore, natural gypsum, synthetic gypsum and abrasives. We also provide cement manufacturing raw materials from alumina source to fly ash and bottom ash to bauxite, clay and alumina slag, granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), fly ash, silica fume and pozzolan.
In addition, Charah Solutions offers high-quality Class C fly ash, high-quality Class F fly ash, MultiCem™ slag cement, MultiPozz™ pozzolan, bottom ash, gypsum and IGCC slag byproducts for use in the concrete industries through our MultiSource® materials network distribution system of nearly 40 nationwide sourcing locations with international sourcing and distribution locations.