Coal

North Dakota coal plant now “fully circular,” owner says

Eco Material and Rainbow will capture, beneficiate, and market all of the solid-form discharged materials from Coal Creek Station, adding to their existing partnership that markets fly ash in the concrete sector.
North Dakota coal plant now “fully circular,” owner says
Coal Creek Station in North Dakota (Source: Great River Energy).

Eco Material Technologies, a producer of sustainable cementitious materials and near-zero carbon cement replacement products, announced an expanded partnership with Rainbow Energy Center to jointly invest in new beneficiation and harvesting plants at the Coal Creek Station to reuse previously disposed of products and enhance carbon reduction efforts.

Eco Material and Rainbow will capture, beneficiate, and market all of the solid-form discharged materials from Coal Creek Station, adding to their existing partnership that markets fly ash in the concrete sector, in what the two companies are calling a “fully circular” power plant.

“We expect demand for high-quality sustainable cementitious materials (SCMs) like fly ash and pozzolans to grow rapidly over the next 10 years and we are excited to work with Rainbow to provide that for the industry,” said Grant Quasha, CEO of Eco Material Technologies. “This project is the culmination of a relationship between Eco Material and Coal Creek Station on fly ash beneficial use for over 30 years, and that partnership has only grown since Rainbow’s purchase of the facility in 2022. This project marks a key turning point in the SCM market for the region.”

The project will be the first beneficiation and harvesting plant in the state of North Dakota and the second bottom ash beneficiation and harvesting project within Eco Material’s portfolio. The Coal Creek project will provide an additional 400,000 tons annually of SCMs over the next 25 years to service the rapidly growing markets in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The project will also beneficiate Coal Creek’s annual production of 150,000 tons of calcium sulfite into marketable synthetic gypsum, which will be primarily marketed to the wallboard industry by Eco Material.

Rainbow purchased the 1051 MW, 2-unit station at Coal Creek in May 2022, and the plant was originally scheduled to be shut down before this purchase. However, Rainbow infused capital into the plant, including these projects, to ensure it remains operational long-term. The plant currently produces approximately 500,000 tons annually of high-quality Class F fly ash.

Materials harvested from Coal Creek Station are and will be used in concrete blends to repair and construct bridges, roads, and buildings across the region. Coal ash replacement in cement has been shown to enhance the strength, impermeability, and durability of concrete, Eco Material said.

Eco Material will also be investing in additional storage terminals across the region to ensure that no winter ash is disposed of and that customers have the materials they need for projects in the region’s shorter summer season. The beneficiation plants at Coal Creek and the new regional storage terminals are expected to be completed in 2025.

Eco Material has a portfolio of nine plants producing or under construction that represent over four million tons per annum of novel, beneficiated SCMs and Green Cement products to help decarbonize the North American concrete market.