OREANDA-NEWS. September 20, 2012. DTEK, Polish Union for Coal Combustion Product and Ekotech IP with assistance of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for ash and slag handling in Ukraine. The parties will join their efforts to bring respective Ukrainian laws and regulations in line with the EU legislation, develop national standards and technical specifications, carry out scientific and market research, and implement pilot projects on introduction of the advanced ash and slag handling technologies.

 Production of large amounts of ash and slag is one of the vital environmental problems in the regions where large power plants are located. Ukraine generates about 8 million tonnes of ash and slag per year, which is mostly stockpiled at ash dumps. Ash dumps of some Ukrainian power plants are overfilled, whereas expansion of such dumps requires large capital costs, and land allocation is rather complicated (and in some cases impossible).

 Commercial use of coal combustion products in 2011 in Ukraine amounted to 5%, whereas worldwide ash and slag are commercial products that are used for building and road construction, cement production, supporting of mine workings and other purposes. Using such technologies allows utilizing ash and slag waste, reduction of the impact on the environment and production of the affordable construction materials for the development of Ukrainian regions economics and infrastructure.

 The Memorandum was signed in Kyiv during the official visit of the Polish President Bronislav Komorowski to Ukraine. On behalf of DTEK the document was signed by the External Affairs Director and member of the Board Aleksandr Tolkach. The Parties have committed to making all efforts to secure financing for the initial steps in Ukrainian-Polish cooperation with regard to ash and slag handling and to agree on the projects details within two months.

 “One of the first pilot projects in this area we are considering now could be the utilization of ash and slag waste from Burshtynska TPP for the construction of roads in Ivano-Frankivsk Region,” said Alexander Tolkach. “In this way we could tackle two big issues: roadways and the environmental situation in the region. Even though it will take millions to implement the project, we will still benefit from cost savings and help the development of the region, creating new jobs. Last year, DTEK’s power plants paid about UAH 33 million as the environmental charge for ash and slag waste; and the construction of a new ash dump would cost us about UAH 160 to 200 million.”

 The main constraints for ash and slag utilization in Ukraine are the lack of legislative and legal prerequisites for free ash and slag commercial turnover; insufficient infrastructure of the generations for large-scale ash and slag waste commercial turnover.