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As the number of biogas plants and wastewater treatment plants continues to grow, there is an urgent need to find sustainable usage of the organic wastes produced in these facilities Recycling of organic wastes within agriculture can reduce the need for mineral fertilizer and restore organic carbon deficiency in the soil. The results from a 16-year long field experiment, where agricultural lands have been amended using sewage sludge and biogas residue is presented in this paper. Plant nutrients, organic contaminants and metals have been analyzed in order to evaluate the impact of the wastes on soil and crop quality. The results show that only small differences in plant uptake of metals and organic pollutants appear after 16 years. In addition, biogas residues performed well as a fertilizers, although not as well as mineral fertilizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Wood ash from biofuel combustion plants and compost from source-separated household waste are commonly spread on forest, agricultural and horticultural soils as a valuable source of plant nutrients. However, due to anthropogenic activities, wood ash may contain high concentrations of heavy metals. Heavy metals are toxic to microorganisms and therefore, soil microbial response to wood ash should be considered when soil is amended with ash. Compost is known to improve soil structure and may also act as a bioremediating agent, mitigating any toxic effects of wood ash on soil microorganisms. In the present study, the aim was to investigate whether wood ash has any toxic effect on soil microbial activity and, if this is the case, whether compost could mitigate these effects. The effect of wood fly ash on potential ammonium oxidation rate (PAO) and potential denitrification rate (PDA) in arable soil was investigated in one dose–response assay and in two pot experiments with or without plants, respectively. The treatments were amendment with wood fly ash, compost or a combination of wood fly ash and compost. PAO and PDA were assessed immediately or after 7 and 90 days in the different experiments. Wood fly ash decreased PDA to 16–56% compared to the control, while PAO varied between 82% and 205%. Sole compost addition stimulated both processes. This positive effect was also observed in the combined wood fly ash–compost treatment. In conclusion, wood ash had a toxic effect on PDA, both on an immediate, short-term and long-term basis. Amendment of compost clearly mitigated this toxic effect. The observed toxicity could be an effect of the metal content of ash. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Low cost sorbents have been widely studied in recent years in the search for filter materials that retain contaminants from water. One promising, low cost material is pine bark, a by-product from the forest industry. Many studies have shown that pine bark has great potential for the treatment of metals and organic substances, as a replacement for other commercial sorbents such as active carbon. However, some potential problems are introduced through the use of natural materials and by-products. One such problem that must be addressed is the possibility of leaching of contaminants from the filter material, especially in the initial filtration step or during flushes of lightly contaminated water, e.g. during rainfall for on-site treatment of storm water or landfill leachate. The aim of this preliminary study was therefore to identify potential risks and limitations of using pine bark as a filter material. Leachate from a standardized batch test was analysed for metals, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and phenols. In addition to these chemical analyses, an ecotoxicological test was conducted using the test organism Daphnia magna. The results showed significant leaching of DOC and some metals. Only a small fraction of the DOC was present as phenols. The leachate was however found to be toxic to the test organism without pH adjustment, and the EC50 was established at an approximate leachate concentration of 40%. This was concluded to be related to the low pH in the eluate, since no toxicity was observed after pH adjustment before the toxicity tests. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]