ISGS - August 2003 Activity Highlights

ISGS - August 2003 Activity Highlights

Several Companies Test Bricks Made With Fly Ash

With help from ISGS researchers, several brick companies are conducting tests of full-scale production of bricks made with fly ash. At the Streator Brick Company plant, bricks containing 10 and 20 wt. percent fly ash were made and fired last month, and the engineering properties of the bricks met or exceeded standard specifications. Larger production tests with bricks containing up to 40 wt. percent fly ash are planned. Geologists also presented to the Illinois Clean Coal Institute and interested brick company officials favorable results from a study on deposits of Pennsylvanian shale and underclay in the Peoria area that might be suitable as sources of raw materials for a proposed brick plant in that region. Production tests are under way, or planned for later in the year, at brick plants in southwestern Illinois and western Indiana. (Contacts: M. Chou, V. Patel, Z. Lasemi, P. Weibel)

Ash May Help Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Become Favored Building Material

Laboratory and in-plant tests show that fly ash from Illinois coals can successfully replace sand as the main ingredient in the manufacture of autoclaved aerated concrete blocks. The fire-resistant building material, long used in Europe and the Middle East, has only recently been introduced in the North American market. Based on laboratory- and small-scale in-plant tests, two fly ashes are to be selected for pilot-scale demonstration tests at the manufacturing plant in Adel, GA, of Babb International. (Contact: J. Chou)

Geologic Services Help Locate Groundwater Resources

The staff of the Groundwater Geology Section responded to more than 60 inquiries, a fairly typical month. Inquiries were received from contractors drilling municipal wells for the villages of Hampshire and Elburn in Kane Co.; a landowner near Centralia (Clinton Co.) seeking a water supply to raise freshwater prawns; a contractor bidding on a job to plug a large-capacity well near West Chicago (DuPage Co.); a landowner in Jo Daviess Co. concerned about the potential impact on groundwater supplies of a proposed highway near Galena; and an Illinois Department of Public Health official dealing with a driller who had encountered natural gas while drilling a water well near Little America (Fulton Co.). ISGS staff ran a down-hole log of this well and collected samples of the gas to be used to determine its source. (Contacts: E. Mehnert, R. Rice)

Planning for Illinois River Restoration Projects Continues

Studies and planning discussions with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continued as Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Corps officials moved toward agreement on priorities for the types of restoration work needed and protocols to be followed in reviewing project proposals. At the request of Eric Schuller, policy advisor to Lt. Governor Quinn, ISGS staff prepared a letter explaining the need for additional resources needed to compile and automate ISGS databases that are germane to environmental issues in the Illinois River watershed and convert them to formats that would be accessible through the Internet. (Contacts: B. Herzog, R. Krumm, M. Miller, G. Pociask, A. Phillips)

ISGS Studies Will Guide Development of Oxygen-Enriched Coal Combustion

ISGS engineers met with technical staff at American Air Liquide's research center to begin planning a two-year techno-economic assessment of the new technology. The new study, sponsored by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, will focus on the effects of burning low-sulfur coal with the technology, and comparison of the new results with those developed by consideration of high-sulfur coal combustion. Results of the techno-economic studies will provide guidance for ongoing research and development efforts by Air Liquide, McDermott Industries (a boiler manufacturer) and the ISGS. The technology may become an important element in future approaches to geological sequestration of carbon dioxide gases emitted by coal-fired power plants. (Contact: M. Rostam-Abadi, S. Chen)

First Draft of Starved Rock/Matthiessen Geology Guide Completed

The first volume in the Geology of the State Parks series, on the geology of Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks, was completed and submitted to the Publishing, Design and Photography unit for review. This guide, and one for Illinois Beach State Park, are to be completed and published as part of the ISGS centennial celebration in 2005. (Contacts: S. Greenberg; M. Chrzastowski; M. Killey)

Updated 08/08/2012 SLD