For OmniTRAX, a concrete fly ash solution

Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-In-Chief, Railway Age
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Charah LLC

Charah®, LLC has opened a fly ash storage and rail-to-truck transloading terminal in Colorado, in partnership with OmniTRAX. The new terminal, located in Kelim, Co. near Denver, is part of Charah's expanding MultiSource™ network, a distribution system of multiple sourcing locations across the country that ensures a steady and reliable supply of Class C and Class F fly ash for ready-mix concrete producers. The Denver-area terminal will provide concrete producers in the Metro Denver and surrounding region with a reliable source of quality Class F fly ash.

Charah recently opened fly ash terminals in the South, New England, the Midwest and California.

“We are delighted to partner with Charah to provide our rail-to-truck transloading services,” said Kevin Shuba, CEO of OmniTRAX. “Our Great Western Railway of Colorado has become a vital link in Northern Colorado’s transportation network.”

“As one of the leading fly ash sales and marketing companies in the country, our new terminal location and partnership with OmniTRAX ensures that we are able to provide a steady and reliable supply of ash for the ready-mix concrete producers throughout the Metro Denver marketing region,” said Charah Vice President of Ash Sales and Marketing Scott Ziegler. “Concrete producers demand the quality and availability that Charah fly ash brings to every project, with all the advantages of added strength, durability, increased workability and improved finish product quality. The use of fly ash in concrete products offers benefits in both the hardened and plastic state of concrete. In addition to improving the finish product quality, using fly ash in concrete products and other applications not only eliminates the need to dispose of fly ash in landfills, it also significantly reduces the overall carbon footprint and conserves our natural resources by replacing materials that would otherwise have to be mined and processed for these products.” Founded in 1987 and based in Louisville, Ky., Charah® LLC is a privately held provider of coal combustion product (CCP) management, fly ash sales and marketing, and power plant support services for the coal-fired power generation industry. Charah assists utilities with all aspects of managing and recycling ash byproducts generated from the combustion of coal in the production of electricity. Services include landfill design, construction, management, operations and closure; fly ash, bottom ash and gypsum sales and marketing; ash pond management and closure; structural fill projects; and power plant support services including limestone supply and FGD (flue-gas desulfurization)* operations.

OmniTRAX, Inc., a subsidiary of The Broe Group, provides management services to railroads, ports, intermodal terminals and industrial switching operations, as well as specialized industrial development and real estate services, both on and off the rail network it manages.

* Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) is a set of technologies used to remove sulfur dioxide (SO2) from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants, and from the emissions of other sulfur-oxide-emitting processes. Stringent environmental regulations regarding SO2 emissions have been enacted in many countries. As a result, SO2 is now being removed from flue gases by a variety of methods. Among them are wet scrubbing using a slurry of alkaline sorbent, usually limestone, lime, or seawater, to scrub gases; spray-dry scrubbing using similar sorbent slurries; wet sulfuric acid process, recovering sulfur in the form of commercial quality sulfuric acid; SNOX™ flue gas desulphurization, removing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates from flue gases; and dry sorbent injection systems that introduce powdered hydrated lime (or other sorbent material) into exhaust ducts to eliminate SO2 and SO3 from process emissions. For a typical coal-fired power station, FGD can remove 90% or more of flue-gas SO2.

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