Utilization Of Fly Ash Waste As Construction Material

In Malaysia there are six coal fired electric power station for the time being. These power stations usually can produce a high amount of electric power of more than 2400 MW. In peninsular Malaysia, there are four coal fired electric power station that produced at least 1400 MW of electric power. Coal fired electric power station is one of the cheapest electric production compared to the amount of power that can be produced. These power stations are still not enough to cater demand due to future development. Fly ash is a waste byproduct of electric power plants which use coal as their fuel source. Previously, a coal based power station disposed the waste amounts out of their equipment by burying it in landfills or returning it to strip mines. The growth in power plants that use coal as the source of fuel has produced hundreds of millions of tons of ash every year. With the advancement of technology and the economic crisis in Malaysia, the development of infrastructure in the use of new structural materials has been promoted but overall with unsatisfactory results in terms of cost savings. However, this problem can be solved by using waste industrial waste such as fly ash as a source to replace the existing building materials which is cost effective. The main aspect of waste management is to prevent the production of waste through minimizing the waste produced and also re-use of waste materials through recycling. The paper will be discussing the potential of managing waste of fly ash by utilizing it as construction materials.