High‐Calcium Flue Gas Desulfurization Products Reduce Aluminum Toxicity in an Appalachian Soil

• Published in: Journal of environmental quality Vol. 25; no. 6; pp. 1401 - 1410
• Main Authors: Wendell, R. R., Ritchey, K. D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison, WI American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America 01.11.1996; Crop Science Society of America; American Society of Agronomy
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Air pollution control; Aluminum; Biological and medical sciences; Flue gas; Flue gas desulfurization; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Other nutrients. Amendments. Solid and liquid wastes. Sludges and slurries; Pollution control equipment; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments; West Virginia; Appalachians; United States; North America; America; Monocotyledones; Waste utilization; Calcium Sulfates; Calcium; Cultivated soil; Energy industry; Sorghum bicolor; Liming amendment; Gramineae; Angiospermae; pH; Calcium Sulfites; Combustion gas desulfurization; Soil chemistry; Laboratory study; Acid soil; Soil column; Underground leaching; Acidity; Aluminium; Soil management; Industrial waste; Phytotoxicity; Coal power plant; Environment; Spermatophyta; Fodder crop; SOIL CHEMICOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES; Soil plant relation; By product
• ISSN: 0047-2425; 1537-2537
• DOI: 10.2134/jeq1996.00472425002500060034x

An acid Appalachian soil was amended with two flue gas desulfurization (FGD) by‐products, one consisting of wallboard‐quality gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) and the other containing CaSO3·0.5H2O as a major component. Soil columns treated with FGD by‐products were leached with deionized H2O under unsaturated conditions. Aluminum amounts leached increased 25‐fold over the control when CaSO4·2H2O FGD by‐product was incorporated into the soil. Leachate pH decreased with FGD product treatment, but bulk soil pH increased, and exchangeable Al and total soil acidity decreased. Mean 4‐d root lengths of sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) seedlings grown in the leached soils were as much as 440 and 310% the value of the control for CaSO3·0.5H2O and CaSO4·2H2O treatments, respectively. Mechanisms by which mitigation of Al toxicity occurs with addition of high‐Ca FGD by‐products to acid soils are discussed.