Producer
Charah Solutions
Publicly traded US fly ash services company (NYSE: CHRA); provides fly ash sales, pond operations, and beneficiation services. Holds multi-year collection contracts including Luminant through 2027 and Associated Electric Cooperative through 2026. Operates 25+ nationwide distribution terminals with barge, rail, and truck logistics. Developed MP618 thermal beneficiation technology to upgrade high-LOI (loss on ignition) fly ash that would fail ASTM C618 standards — a critical technology as coal plants operate at lower capacity factors. Also opening a third facility for natural pozzolan grinding.
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Fly Ash Marketing & Distribution
55%Environmental Services & Remediation
28%Natural Pozzolans & Alternatives
17%
Intelligence
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Incident2023
As coal plants operate at lower capacity factors to balance renewable energy, combustion becomes less efficient, raising the LOI (loss on ignition) of fly ash. High-LOI ash fails ASTM C618 concrete standards — concrete producers must either reject it or pay for beneficiation. Charah Solutions developed the MP618 thermal beneficiation process specifically to upgrade high-LOI ash. This creates a structural dynamic where decarbonization of electricity simultaneously degrades the quality of the fly ash it produces from fewer, more sporadically-operated coal plants. The same grid transition that reduces fly ash quantity also reduces fly ash quality.
Charah Solutions ↗Did you know2024
Charah Solutions has built a business where coal ash is simultaneously their product and their cleanup project: they sell fresh fly ash as a concrete ingredient (green building materials supply chain) while also being paid by utilities to close and remediate the legacy coal ash ponds that were improperly built for decades (environmental liability mitigation). The same material — coal combustion residual — generates revenue from concrete customers buying it as an SCM and from utilities paying to have historical waste disposed. Charah is also diversifying into natural pozzolans (volcanic ash, calcined clay) to hedge against fly ash supply decline as coal plants retire, connecting geology-derived mineral supply with the legacy fossil fuel waste management sector.
Charah Solutions ↗Origin2023
Charah Solutions was founded by Charles Price in Louisville, Kentucky as Charah Inc., initially focused on coal combustion residuals management at utility sites. It grew by taking on long-term fly ash collection contracts at coal-fired power plants, distributing material to concrete producers, and adding legacy ash pond closure services as EPA Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rules created a mandated cleanup market. It went public on the NYSE in 2018 (CHRA) as the fly ash remediation and supply business became financially large enough for institutional capital.
Charah Solutions ↗