The influence of liming with fly-ash of Kosovo powerplants on chemical and physical properties of distric cambisol

Abstract

Increased acidity is very often a limiting factor for decreased soil fertility and unfavorable chemical and physical soil properties. Fly-ash of Kosovo power plants appears as the waste material after burning in the reactors. Material itself causes serious environmental consequences, especially because it is hardly remediated, due to its chemical and physical properties. Since 1963. Kosovo power plants have formed huge fly-ash dumps of very poor remediability, with over than 200.000mt of fly-ash. But, despite of its low remediability, the material has properties to be used in liming of acid soils. The fact that fly-ash of Kosovo powerplants is alkaline, with relatively high content of CaO and CaCO3, recommends it as a material which can be successfully used in melioration of acid soils. In our experiment we have used soil type Distric Cambisol, as a typical acid soil for the region of Kosovo. The results show applied liming material as proper material for use in liming the acid soils. By use the fly-ash for amelioration of acid soil, we have reached significant improvement of pH and other chemical properties, as well as the stability of soil structure.