How an AMECO Reclaimer is Reducing GHG and Utility Bills For Kentucky Largest Power Utility

AMECO’s 3-in-1 Solution: Enhanced CCR Recycling, Reduced GHG Emissions, and Increased Revenue for Kentucky’s Largest Utility

The Challenge

LG&E KU, Kentucky’s largest power utility, faced two significant challenges in managing the substantial volume of Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) such as fly ash, bottom ash, and gypsum generated by its Trimble County plant.

1. Reliance on dozers for material handling was problematic—these machines were frequently diverted to other tasks, resulting in operational inefficiencies, frequent downtimes, and staffing shortages.
2. Harmful dust generated from handling these materials posed significant health and safety risks to both workers and the environment.

Compounding these two issues, LG&E KU was under increasing pressure from stakeholders to find solutions to reduce the overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the plant’s operations. The utility needed an efficient, environmentally friendly solution that could handle the high volume of CCR materials while addressing safety and operational concerns.

The AMECO Solution

AMECO Group provided a tailored solution with our advanced automated reclaimer system (AMECO PSx) to address LG&E KU’s challenges head-on. The system was designed to replace the inconsistent and labor-intensive dozer operations with a more efficient, reliable, and safe method of handling CCR materials.

Key features and benefits of AMECO’s PSx system include:

• Consistent High Capacity Handling: Our automated reclaimer system, with a capacity of 750 TPH (tons per hour), ensured that CCR materials were handled efficiently and consistently. This high throughput eliminated the operational variability and downtimes previously caused by the use of dozers.
• Enhanced Safety and Environmental Compliance: The automated system reduced the need for manual labor, significantly lowering the risk of accidents and injuries. Additionally, the integrated dust collection system drastically reduced dust emissions, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations and protecting both workers and the surrounding community.
• Unique Value Proposition: AMECO’s solution is built with high-quality steel for optimal robustness and longevity, constructed by a well-trained workforce. Our system improved material output by eliminating the random variability associated with manual dozer operations, all underpinned by AMECO’s extensive real-life operational data, which provided LG&E KU with unmatched reliability and performance.

Outcomes

The implementation of AMECO’s CCR handling system brought about a transformative change in LG&E KU’s operations, making CCR management safer, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly:

• Sustainable Recycling Efforts: Since the system’s commissioning in 2019, more than 1 million tons of CCR materials have been repurposed into valuable products such as concrete, cement, porcelain tile, wallboard, and roofing shingles. This recycling effort not only reduced the need for virgin natural resources but also contributed to significant GHG reductions.
• Economic Impact: The recycling of CCR materials generated $15 million in revenue, which was directly applied as a credit to LG&E KU customers’ utility bills, showcasing a direct benefit to the community.
• Agricultural Benefits: The system facilitated the use of 50,000 tons of gypsum in creating a sulfur-fertilizer product. This product met the rising demand in the regional farming industry and offered an easier application for farmers through its pelletized form.

Key System Specifications

• Machine Specifications: 26-meter arms, 112 tons
• Operational Efficiency: 750 TPH reclaiming capacity, operating 18 hours a day
• Reliability: 99.9% uptime outside of planned maintenance

Customer Testimonial

Thumbs up for AMECO! Our new reclaimer not only gets the job done but makes our work a whole lot easier. Safe, efficient, and dust-free—just how we like it!

– Bill & Ted, LGE K&U warehouse operators

TRANSLATE with x

English

Arabic	Hebrew	Polish
Bulgarian	Hindi	Portuguese
Catalan	Hmong Daw	Romanian
Chinese Simplified	Hungarian	Russian
Chinese Traditional	Indonesian	Slovak
Czech	Italian	Slovenian
Danish	Japanese	Spanish
Dutch	Klingon	Swedish
English	Korean	Thai
Estonian	Latvian	Turkish
Finnish	Lithuanian	Ukrainian
French	Malay	Urdu
German	Maltese	Vietnamese
Greek	Norwegian	Welsh
Haitian Creole	Persian

TRANSLATE with

COPY THE URL BELOW

Back

EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE

Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster Portal

Back