Developing a Byproduct Materials Information System for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Abstract

Kentucky has numerous coal-fired, electric generating facilities and, as a result, there are abundant byproduct materials being produced from these facilities that have environmental, engineering, and economic potential as materials for use in common highway construction and maintenance related activities throughout the Commonwealth. Other byproduct materials are being produced and are available that may have potential uses as well. Although large quantities of byproduct materials are produced in Kentucky and many of those materials have positive or neutral environmental impacts and excellent engineering properties, a formal regulatory framework for selecting, characterizing, recovering, and recycling these material types does not exist. Fundamentally, the lack of a regulatory protocol is an obstacle to recycling byproducts and discourages the use of byproduct materials by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. During this research effort, a byproduct materials information system was developed to guide the selection and use of ponded ashes in highway construction and maintenance activities. The information system was designed to be modular so that additional recovered and recyclable materials could be included within the matrices as these materials are evaluated at some future date. It is fully anticipated that the byproduct information system eventually will encompass any recovered or recycled materials that are shown through the prescribed method of evaluation to possess satisfactory environmental, engineering and economic characteristics that make them suitable for use in highway construction and maintenance activities.