Nutrient Supply From Soil-Applied Gasification Ash.

The gasification of corn and wheat stover can be used to produce bio fuel that is a viable energy source. Removal of corn or wheat stover from the field removes large amounts of nutrients from the soil. The gasification process will produce an ash by-product that may contain many of the nutrients from the feedstock. The gasification ash could return the nutrients to the field. The objectives of this study are to determine the effects of gasification ash on soil pH and nutrient availability. Three soils were collected from the Hugoton, KS area where construction of a cellulose bio fuel plant has been proposed, and were amended with ash treatments of 0, 3, and 15 g/kg. The 3 soils were sampled at 1, 7, and 35 days and analyzed for pH, Mehlich 3-extractable P, and ammonium acetate extractable K.  At 35 days, soils were analyzed for DTPA extractable micronutrients. Results show a trend that gasification ash increased the pH for all three types of soil. The ash rate of 15 g/kg raised the pH of the soils from 6.5 to 8.4 in the first day of incubation. The 7-day extraction showed that the soil pH stayed the same as on day 1. The phosphorus levels doubled in between the control and the high amendments after the first day of incubation. In conclusion the gasification ash has shown that it can be a liming and phosphorus source, but it may have limitations for application on high pH soils.