No land-filling of HFO fly ash

I refer to the article and letter on Bengħisa fly ash (The Sunday Times, May 16).

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority would like to clarify that these both articles refer to coal fly ash that resulted from the combustion of coal which was used to run the Marsa power station prior to its modification for it to run on heavy fuel oil (HFO). Today, both power stations use HFO, which produces a different kind of fly ash.

The opinions expressed in the article and letter regarding the economic and environmental feasibility of encapsulating fly ash in concrete is solely based on the extensive literature pertaining to the encapsulation of coal fly ash, not HFO fly ash.

Mepa has considered various proposals for the encapsulation of HFO fly ash in concrete, but these did not reach product standards, given the different chemical characteristics of coal and HFO fly ash.

Mepa wishes to state and clarify that there are no plans to landfill of HFO fly ash. The authority currently insists that all HFO fly ash from the Marsa power station is exported.

While Mepa has limited information regarding the amounts and characteristics of the fly ash that has been dumped at Bengħisa, this matter will be studied further once the EU processes regarding the Soils Directive are concluded, and the implementation of this directive commences.

Editor's note: The coal/heavy fuel distinction was crystal clear in the article.