THIS PAPER reports on the development of a process to convert mud and ash into pellets. There is a need to precondition the mud to reduce its particle size. Centrifuging has been shown to be a suitable process to achieve this objective and has the additional benefit of reducing the mud moisture content. The mud and ash mixture needs to be dried considerably to achieve a moisture content of about 25%. A flue gas dryer has been used for this purpose. A pellet mill was found to be a suitable apparatus to produce
pellets from the dried mud and ash. A financial analysis has shown that the process of
producing mud and ash pellets may be financially attractive. It has been estimated that a
pellet price of $26 per tonne should be sufficient to cover the capital costs of the plant.
Considerable work remains to be done to refine the pelleting process and to determine
the financial, agronomic and environmental benefits of the pellets over conventional
fertiliser and traditionally distributed mud and ash.