Research on Use of FGD Products in Ohio Warren Dick and Liming Chen The Ohio State University

FGD as Lime Substitute Vermiculite and Perlite FGD, and Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) Combustion Product to Agricultural Acid Soils Calcium carbonate equivalency 50% Application rates: 7.5 to 30 ton/acre

ControlCFB ( 0.5xLR ) CFB ( 1.0xLR ) CFB ( 2.0xLR ) Ag-lime ( 0.5xLR ) Ag-lime ( 1.0xLR ) Ag-lime ( 2.0xLR ) E C AB A D C BC 15 months Soil pH Treatment Soil pH as Affected by CFB vs. Ag-lime

Alfalfa Yields as Affected by CFB vs. Ag-lime

Alfalfa Yields as Affected by Vermiculite and Perlite FGD (#2-7) vs. Ag-lime (#8) Treatment Yields of Alfalfa (Mg/ha) D BC AB A ABC AB ABC C

Mineland Reclamation Treatments: (1) FGD:125 tons/acre (2) FGD+Compost: 125 tons/acre of FGD and 50 tons/acre of yard-waste compost. (3) Soil+lime: 70 tons/acre of agricultural limestone with 20 cm of soil.

FGD Used for Fleming Coal Mine Reclamation (1994)

Biomass as Affected by FGD (AFBC) and Other Materials in Fleming Site

FGD Used for Fleming Coal Mine Reclamation (2006)

Effect of FGD on Plant Roots in Coal Mine Soil

Amelioration of Problems Associated with Subsoil Acidity Blount soil has an acidic subsoil Application rates: 1500 to 3000 lb FGD- gypsum/acre

Typical pH profile for a Blount soil Depth (cm) pH 7 Al 3+

Effects of Gypsum on Al in Soils % Al Saturation Soil Depth (cm)

Aluminum Toxicity in Ohio Modfied from Ohio Report, 1976

Yield map From a corn field at the Miller farm harvested in 2003

Wooster, Ohio Year

FGD as S fertilizer FGD contains 5- 17% S –SO 4 2- plants uptake directly –SO 3 2- oxidized to SO 4 2- in soils, then uptake by plants FGD application rates: 14 to 60 lb S/acre

Experimental Sites in Ohio

Alfalfa Yield (Mg/ha)

Soybean Yield (kg/ha)

Average Corn Yields from 2002 to 2005 as Affected by Application of N and FGD products at the rate of 30 lb S/acre.

Improvement of Soil Physical Properties Application rate: lb/acre Increase water infiltration Maintain good soil structure

No-Tillage Crop Production on Clay Soils No-tillage has not been used on clay soils because poor aeration and water infiltration properties. Treatments: –No-tillage and plow-tillage –FGD-gypsum application rates: lb/acre

Corn response to FGD gypsum in no-till and plow till plots at the OARDC Northwest Station in 2004 FGD Gypsum Treatments Corn Yield (bu/acre)

Corn response to FGD gypsum in no-till and plow-till plots at the OARDC Northwest Station in 2005 FGD Gypsum Treatments Corn Yield (bu/acre)

Synthetic Soils and Horticultural Uses A synthetic soil may be defined as a plant growth medium created by the blending of two or more materials. A large variety of synthetic soils were created using varied proportions of FGD- gypsum, bottom ash, peat, and several composts from biosolids, cow manure, and yard waste.

Biomass of wheat and tomato (seedlings 35 days) as affected by media created from coal combustion products (CCPs) and composts.

FGD used in potting media (wheat)

FGD used in potting medium (tomato)

FGD used in nursery plant growth media