Project: CBPPL By-Product usage

Funded by: The Agricultural Clean Technologies Program (ACT), Mitacs, ACOA, IET, and CBPPL. 

Considering the increasingly high cost of liming materials, fertilizers and a preferred economic disposal method of wood ash and sludge generated by the CBPPL, as well as the multifaceted benefits of biochar, the proposed study has been designed to: 1) assess the temporal bioavailability of nutrients, heavy metals, and active microbial community structure in wood ash and sludge, 2) optimize the application rates of wood ash, sludge alone and in combination with biochar on the growth and yield of agronomist and horticultural crops, 3) investigate the effects of wood ash and sludge alone and in combination with biochar on solid active microbial community structure, soil health, and soil fertility in agronomic and vegetable crops, 4) investigate the effects of wood ash and sludge alone and in combination with biochar on safety and quality indices, or phytonutrients content of agronomic crops and vegetables, and 5) develop and test a greenhouse growth medium (bulk density, porosity, WHC, available water, and aggregate stability) based on wood ash and sludge in combination with biochar. The project also aims to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of composting paper pulp sludge with woody material to create a soil amendment for remediating hydrocarbon contaminated soil. More specifically, it intends to determine the nutrient and contaminant content of paper mill sludge and the effectiveness of sludge/compost to remediate hydrocarbon contaminated soil and test the effectiveness of sludge in co-composting woody material.