Different Effects of Ash Application on the Carbon Mineralization and Microbial Biomass Carbon of Reclaimed Mining Soils

Abstract

Ash resulting from biomass energy resource utilization contains a wide range of metal oxides and hydroxides, which may influence the capacity of the ash to be used as a soil amelioration material. This study aimed to assess the effects of different ashes on changes in soil carbon (C) mineralization and soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in reclaimed mining soils (RMSs). Different levels (0, 25, 50, and 75 Mg ha −1) of three ashes (rice husk, oil palm shell, and coal fly ash) were applied to 10-year RMS for a 120-day incubation period. Carbon mineralization was measured over the 120-day incubation period, while MBC and selected chemical properties were quantified at the end of the incubation period. The results of the study showed that the application of rice husk and oil palm shell ash at all levels and coal fly ash at low levels (≤ 25 Mg ha −1) increased C mineralization and MBC. However, the C mineralization and MBC of the soil decreased significantly when the amount of added coal fly ash reached 75 Mg ha −1. These decreases in C mineralization and MBC may be ascribed to the harmful effect of high amounts of coal fly ash on microbial activity and the increased specific surface areas and contents of Ca, Mg, oxalate-and dithionite-extractable iron and aluminum in soil with high amounts of added coal fly ash. This study demonstrates that the application of different types of ash to RMS leads to different C mineralization and soil MBC responses.

Management of Nitrogen Flow in Livestock Waste System Towards an Efficient Circular Economy in Agriculture.

“…Ash application to soils serve as liming agents which makes it suitable for use in acidic soil. For the amendment combination with ash, both soil types showed similarities to previous studies [41] in which PMD+A resulted in increased DHA and SMB-C after the experiment. The combination of pig manure digestate with ash can be assumed to have a convincing effect by increasing the pH of the acidic soil, indirectly in uencing soil C mineralization and SMB-C through changes in the activity of soil microorganisms.…”

The sorption and desorption of organic carbon onto tropical reclaimed-mining soils with coal fly-ash application

“…Coal fly ash application to both soils increased the contents of exchangeable Ca and Mg, FeD, FeO, and AlO, in which these increases were in line with the amounts of added coal fly ash (Table 2). Coal fly ash encompassed quite high amounts of Ca, Mg, Al and Fe (Saidy et al, 2020); thus, the addition of coal fly ash raised the amounts of exchangeable Ca and Mg, FeD, FeO, and AlO of the amended soils. Results of this study are in agreement with the previous studies that reported the improvement of soil chemical characteristics following coal fly ash application (Pandey and Singh, 2010;Riehl et al, 2010).…”

“…Samples of coal fly ash were transferred to the laboratory, air-dried for several days, then sieved to obtain coal fly ash with a diameter of <2.0 mm prior to being used for the experiments. Coal fly ash properties for this research have been reported by Saidy et al (2020).…”

Reduction in carbon dioxide and methane production of tropical peatlands due to coal fly-ash application

“…Organo−mineral associations, , which are formed from the reaction of organic matter with multivalent cations such as Ca 2+ and Fe 3+ , are organic materials that are resistant to microbial decomposition, and thereby increasing soil organic carbon stabilization [14,15]. Coal fly-ash (CFA) which is produced from the process of using coal as an energy source, generally contains high amounts of multivalent cations such as Ca, Mg, and Fe [16,17], so it has the potential to be used as a soil ameliorant. Although many studies have been conducted on the effect of CFA application on changes in peat properties, information on the effect of CFA application on changes in GHG production of peatlands is still not comprehensively available.…”