W. Lee Daniels and Greg Evanylo

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Utilization of Biosolids for Disturbed Land
Rehabilitation

• W. Lee Daniels and Greg Evanylo

http//www.landrehab.org
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A Better Title for Most of This!

• How I spent my winters chasing nitrates around
  the Coastal Plain.

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History and Background

• Biosolids have been used at higher than agronomic
  rates on coal mined lands in the Appalachians
  since the 1970s. Bill Sopper (Penn State)
  pioneered the practice with assistance from Bob
  Bastian (EPA) and others.
• Early coal mined land research at Penn State and
  Va Tech (Haering et al. 2000) has confirmed the
  benefits of this practice and indicated a general
  lack of ground- and surface-water impacts.

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Typical Appalachian Haul-Back Contour Mine
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Controlled Overburden Placement (COP) plots ready
for seeding in April, 1982
Surface treatment experiment biosolids applied
at 10, 25, 50 and 100 T/ac vs. topsoil and
sawdust plots
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Results in Roberts et al. 1988 abc Nash, 2012.
COP in early June, 1982, after seeding and
rainfall.
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2008 Analysis COP Experiment

• Field Sampling
• Biomass and Litter
• Soil 0-5 cm 5-25 cm
• Physical Properties
• Rock Fragments, PSA, Texture
• Chemical Properties
• pH and EC
• Iron Oxides and Extractable P
• Exchangeable Cations and CEC
• Macro and Micronutrients
• Soil Organic Matter
• Total Soil Nitrogen
• Total Soil Carbon
• Organic C and Carbonate
• Stats
• Fishers LSD
• Paired T-test
• Regression
• Long Term Comparisons

21 SSSiS prior to sampling in 2008.
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Surface Amendment- Results-Biomass
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SA- 2008 Extractable P
Note Increases in Cu and Zn uptake by fescue
occurred, but were below forage levels of
concern. No other non-nutrient metals (e.g. Pb)
showed a loading rate effect.
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SA- SOM
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Large-Scale Application of Biosolids plus
Woodchips _at_ 160 T/Ac on Rocky Spoils in 1989
At these loading rates, you add gt 3000 kg per ha
total N and gt 1000 kg per ha total P
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Over a five-year period, a 300 acre application
of 65 T/ac of biosolids woodchips (CN 30)
had no effect on ground water NO3 or metal
levels. In fact, NO3 levels were highest before
application due to the use of NH4NO3 explosives!
Results in Haering et al. 2000
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Powell River Project area 10 years after
application with biosolids.
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19-year old mine soil that received biosolids
treatment in 1989. A horizon is 5 inches thick
and exhibits well developed granular structure.
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Mine soil pedon 15 feet away from previous soil
that did not receive biosolids.
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History and Background

• In 1995, the State of Virginia Dept. of Mines,
  Minerals, and Energy developed guidelines for the
  application of biosolids to coal mined lands
  (VDMME, 1995) with Virginia Techs assistance.
  These guidelines capped loading rates at 35 T/Ac
  (dry) for biosolids cake and at 50 T/Ac when the
  CN ratio of the applied product was 251 or
  greater.

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History and Background

• Application of higher than agronomic rates of
  biosolids to very gravelly and coarse-textured
  mine soils with shallow ground water regimes
  within the Chesapeake Bay watershed raised
  significant regulatory concerns with regard to
  long-term effects on nutrient loadings to ground
  water

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Shirley Plantation Experiment

• At Shirley, we evaluated a range of biosolids
  loading rates (1x to 7x) agronomic rate of 14
  Mg/ha with and without added sawdust (to adjust
  the applied CN ratio to approximately 201) on a
  reclaimed gravel mined soil between 1996 and
  1999. The mine soils utilized had been reclaimed
  for ten years and were in rowcrop production.

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Land application of municipal biosolids to large
experimental plots at Shirley in April 1996.
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Results in Schmidt et al. (2001) Daniels et al.
(2003)
Biosolids cake (CN 8) land-applied on gravel
mine at 42 Mg/ha.
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Wheat response to biosolids on unmined control
plots at Shirley Plantation one year after
application.
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Sampling from zero-tension lysimeter _at_ 1 m.
Well!
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Figure 1. Shirley Plantation
LysimetersBiosolids
No Fert
Fert
1.0x biosolids
3.0x biosolids
5.0x biosolids
7.0x biosolids
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Figure 2. Shirley Plantation
LysimetersBiosolids Sawdust
No Fert
Fert
1.0x biosd
3.0x biosd
5.0x biosd
7.0x biosd
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Nitrate-N leached over two seasons without
sawdust added Treatment Total-N Applied NO3-N
Lost App. ---------------- kg/ha
------------------- Control 0
5.9 c N.A. Fertilized 269 7.6
2.8 1X Biosolids 626 19.2
3.1 3X Biosolids 1252 37.4 3.0 5X
Biosolids 3130 28.2 0.9 7X
Biosolids 4382 59.8 1.4
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Nitrate-N leached over two seasons with sawdust
added Treatment Total-N Applied Nitrate-N Lost
App. ---------------- kg/ha
------------------- Control 0
5.9 c N.A. Fertilized 269
7.6 2.8 1X Sawdust 626
4.9 0.8 3X Sawdust 1252
7.6 0.6 5X Sawdust 3130
58.4 1.9 7X Sawdust 4382
31.9 0.7
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Findings at Shirley

• Root zone leachates (_at_ 75 cm) showed enhanced
  nitrate-N leaching potentials the first winter
  after biosolids application that were directly
  related to loading rate and CN ratio.
• Treatment effects were only noted the first
  winter after a spring application.
• Four adjacent shallow ground-water wells showed
  no effects of the loadings.

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Mattaponi R.
Adjacent Agricultural Fields
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Site Description

• Aylett Sand Gravel mined in eastern King
  William County, Virginia (N37o 50.1' W77o 7.6'),
  immediately adjacent to the Mattaponi River.
• Mined approximately 5 m of the Late Pleistocene
  sand and gravel unit (Tabb Formation)

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Aylett Sand Gravel Mine in October 1998 Results
in Daniels et al. (2002)
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Western portion of site in April of 1999
following fall 1998 application of mixed PVSC and
Blue Plains biosolids at 78 and 34 Mg/ha,
respectively.
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Overall Hydrology and Water Quality

• Groundwater flows from agricultural fields
  bounding the eastern portion of the site, under
  the site, and towards the Mattaponi River.
• Groundwater discharge into the ponds and springs
  on-site is notable, particularly in the winter
  and spring.

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Overall estimated ground-water flow regime for
Sept., 1999. Flow paths in the spring were
similar.
Heads in m AMSL
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Overall Hydrology and Water Quality Results

• No treatment effects were seen on ammonium
  levels, and EC results mirrored nitrate-N levels,
  so we will focus on the nitrate-N data sets
• Significant nitrate-N appears to be entering the
  site via ground-water flow from the upgradient
  agricultural fields

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Overall Hydrology and Water Quality Results

• Of the 11 well clusters installed within the
  treated area boundary, only three showed
  significant NO3-N elevations, even though the
  vast majority of them were either directly under
  or downgradient from biosolids treated areas
• Nitrate-N levels in two wells (SW 1 and 3)
  directly adjacent/downgradient to areas receiving
  the 3X biosolids slowly increased in the fall of
  1999, peaked around 40 to 50 mg/L in late
  winter/early spring of 2000 (Fig. 5), dropped
  under (10 mg/L) by May 2000, and remained lt 2
  mg/L through the winter of 2001.

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Well upgradient from all biosolids applications.
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Overall Conclusions

• The long-term ground water monitoring data for
  this site also appear to indicate that the
  background addition of NO3-N from offsite
  agricultural sources is significantly greater
  over time than any short-term effects from
  reclamation related biosolids utilization

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Mineral sands mining in VA and NC will disturb gt
3000 ha much will be prime farmlands
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Iluka Resources Project

• Large (gt 2000 Ac) mineral sands mining operation
  in upper Coastal Plain.
• Lime-stabilized biosolids were applied to 20 Acre
  mining pit reclaimed without topsoil in August of
  2002. Loading rate was 35 T/Ac.
• Water quality monitored monthly at 6 groundwater
  wells and 2 surface water discharge points for
  10 years.

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Lime stabilized biosolids being applied at 78
Mg/ha
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Note no effects on metals in GW for surface app.
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Row crop plots with numbers and treatments
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Topsoil strip after grading and disking in April
2005. Results in Orndorff et al. 2011.
35 T/Ac Biosolids
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2005 Corn Yields (bu/ac) Topsoil/Lime/NPK
61 c Tails Biosolids 174 a Tails
Lime NPK 136 b Unmined adjacent
224 County Average 98 (2000
2005) Adjacent prime farmland Orangeburg
Soil with same management as plot area.
Yields within experiment followed by different
letters were different at p gt 0.01
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Topsoil yields were reduced by compaction and
heavy crusting. Are these problems typical of
the topsoil replacement process?
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Harvested (non-topsoiled) mined land in Fall 2005
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Winter Wheat in May 2006
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2006 Wheat Yields (bu/ac) Topsoil/Lime/NPK
64 Tails Biosolids 73 Tails Lime
NPK 61 Unmined adjacent
103 County Average 53 (2000
2005) Adjacent prime farmland Orangeburg
Soil with same management as plot area.
Winter Wheat on Carraway-Winn Farm in May of 2006
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Treatment 2007 Corn Yield (bu/acre) 2008 Wheat Yield (bu/acre)
Biosolids, no-till 55 c 84 ab
Biosolids, conv-till 58 c 93 a
Control 117 b 69 c
Topsoil 116 b 73 bc
Unmined Control 159 a
Compacted Area 51
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Typical profile in biosolids amended plot three
years after application (2007) Light colored
materials at 70 cm are pure sandy tailings.
Orange blocky layer in mid profile is layer of
high slimes sandwiched between tailings below
and mixed slimestailings above.
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Overall Conclusions

• Biosolids have been used successfully across a
  range of coal, sand, and mineral sands mines in
  the USA and worldwide at high rates (35 to gt 100
  T/Ac) at much lower cost to operators than
  conventional applications of lime, organic matter
  and inorganic fertilizers.
• Significant metal uptake (other than micros like
  Cu and Zn) and/or migration to groundwater has
  not been noted for over 10 years at multiple
  monitoring locations.

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Overall Conclusions

• Overall, these data support our earlier findings
  that while application of biosolids at higher
  than agronomic rates will lead to an ephemeral
  (first winter) leaching loss of NO3-N, that the
  impact to ground water is highly localized, small
  in magnitude, and relatively short lived.

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Overall Conclusions

• In general, biosolids applications to mined lands
  at higher than agronomic rates have significant
  positive long term effects on SOM, plant
  available P, micronutrients, aggregation, water
  holding, invading plant diversity and a number of
  other quantifiable parameters.