煤炭燃燒產(chǎn)物——通常被稱為“煤灰”——是煤炭燃燒發(fā)電時(shí)產(chǎn)生的固體物質(zhì)。有很多很好的理由將煤灰視為一種資源，而不是一種浪費(fèi)。使用它可以節(jié)約自然資源和能源。在很多情況下，用煤灰制成的產(chǎn)品比不用煤灰制成的產(chǎn)品效果更好。

隨著美國(guó)約三分之一的電力繼續(xù)由煤炭生產(chǎn)，大量的煤灰被生產(chǎn)出來。自1968年以來，美國(guó)煤灰協(xié)會(huì)一直跟蹤所有類型煤灰的生產(chǎn)和使用情況。這些調(diào)查的目的是顯示廣泛的利用模式，ACAA的數(shù)據(jù)已被業(yè)界和許多政府機(jī)構(gòu)接受為有益使用實(shí)踐的最佳可用指標(biāo)。

2016年生產(chǎn)的56%的煤灰被回收利用，創(chuàng)造了新的記錄，標(biāo)志著美國(guó)生產(chǎn)的超過一半的煤灰被有益利用，而不是被丟棄?；炷林蟹勖夯业氖褂昧肯陆盗?%，為1440萬噸。與2015年創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的1570萬噸相比有所下降，但仍遠(yuǎn)高于2014年的1310萬噸。2016年的利用率下降是由于一些地區(qū)的季節(jié)性供應(yīng)短缺，這是由于發(fā)電廠關(guān)閉和發(fā)電概況的變化造成的。由于與天然石膏的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)加劇，發(fā)電廠排放控制設(shè)備生產(chǎn)的合成石膏在墻板和農(nóng)業(yè)應(yīng)用中的使用量有所下降。

Coal combustion products – often referred to as “coal  ash”– are solid materials produced when coal is burned  to generate electricity. There are many good reasons to  view coal ash as a resource, rather than a waste. Using  it conserves natural resources and saves energy. In many  cases, products made with coal ash perform better than  products made without it. 

As coal continues to produce approximately one-third of  the electricity generation in the United States, significant  volumes of coal ash are produced. Since 1968, the  American Coal Ash Association has tracked the production and use of all types of coal ash. These surveys are  intended to show broad utilization patterns and ACAA’s  data have been accepted by industry and numerous government agencies as the best available metrics of beneficial use practices.

Fifty-six percent of the coal ash produced during 2016  was recycled – establishing a new record and marking  the second consecutive year that more than half of the  coal ash produced in the United States was beneficially  used rather than disposed. Use of coal fly ash in concrete  declined 8 percent to 14.4 million tons. While down  from 2015’s record utilization of 15.7 million tons,  utilization remained well above the 13.1 million tons  performance in 2014. The dip in 2016 utilization is  attributed to some regional seasonal shortages of supply  that resulted from power plant shutdowns and changing  generating profiles. Use of synthetic gypsum produced  by power plant emissions control equipment decreased  in wallboard and agricultural applications as a result of  increased competition from natural gypsum.