The Future of Fly Ash in the European Sustainability Chain

The developments in Europe towards carbon neutrality by 2050 show their impacts on fossil-fired production but also for construction materials and constructions. Energy and heat are increasingly produced by renewables and fossil-fired production is reduced or already phased-out in some countries. For most of the remaining EU 27 member states phase-out dates have been published, for the other EU member states the discussion is postponed. The reduced or stopped production by coal-fired power plants results in availability issues for Coal Combustion Products (CCPs) in the sustainability chain of construction materials and constructions. Where fresh production declines this is progressively being replaced with local (EU) cross border movements and resources from stock through beneficiation. International/global imports into Europe are expected but not developed. For all construction materials new product standards are under development to meet the basic criteria of the Construction Products Regulation. With this developments in fly ash sourcing will find it’s way into the standards. In addition to all the technical details the declaration of environmental parameters as well as sustainability factors is a must for future construction. The report gives an update on the situation in Europe, developments of markets and options by CCPs in the sustainability chain.