IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, "Resource and Environmental Monitoring", Hyderabad, India, 2002 
  
AGRICULTURAL APPLICATION OF COAL COMBUSTION RESIDUE FOR 
EFFICIENT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 
D.S. Benipal, B.D.Kansal J.S. Manchanda and C.L. Arora 
Department of Soils 
Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana (India) 
email: dsbenipal ?9 yahoo.com 
KEY WORDS: Fly ash, Environment, Coal combustion, Agriculture 
ABSTRACT : 
The fly ash contains many elements including essential nutrients viz. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, 
Magnesium, Sulphur, Iron etc. So it can serve as a source of essential nutrients for plants. However there is a 
possibility of toxicity of heavy metals in crops because fly ash contains good amounts of such metals like Arsenic, 
Selenium, Chromium, Nickel and Lead It is also found to increase the water holding capacity of coarse textured soils as 
the saturation moisture percentage of fly ash is about 2096 more than that of normal soils. Experiments were conducted 
at farmers' field in submontane tract of Punjab (India) to study the effect of fly ash on crops in different crop rotations. 
The pH, EC, OC and bulk density of soils used in this investigation varied from 8.3 to 8.5, 0.16 to 0.24 dSm'!, 0.59 to 
0.63% and 1.19 to 1.40 g cm? respectively. The soils were sandy loam in texture. Fly ash collected from Thermal 
Power Plant, Ropar, Punjab (India) was applied at different rates and the crops were grown to maturity. Basal doses of 
N, P, K were applied to crops and crops were raised as per recommended practices. Soil and plant samples were 
collected and analyzed for essential as well as non-essential elements with the help of ICAP. Seed yield of sunflower 
had increased significantly with the application of 20 t/ha of fly ash. Grain yield of wheat increased by 2.8 q/ha when 
fly ash was added @ 8t/ha, but like that of sunflower-maize cropping sequence, the yield of subsequent (following) 
maize was not influenced by fly ash application showing no residual effect of fly ash. Grain yield of paddy increased 
significantly when fly ash was applied @ 10t/ha as compared to control 
INTRODUCTION 
Solid waste produced by burning of coal in Thermal 
Power Plants is popularly known as fly ash, which 
constitutes about 80 percent of the total residues, 
produced in coal based power plants. In India there are 
about 75 Thermal Power Plants and about 100 million 
tones of fly ash was produced during the year 2000. By 
the end of 2007 its production is further expected to 
increase to the tune of 175 million tones per annum. A 
major problem being faced these power plants world over 
is the safe disposal of this byproduct. In India this 
problem is further aggravated by low calorific value 
(3000-4000 kcal/g) and high ash content (40-50%) of 
Indian Coal. At present only about 3-4% of total fly ash 
METHODS AND MATERIALS 
Field experiments were conducted at cultivators’ field in 
submontane tract of Punjab (India) to study the effect of 
fly ash on sandy loam soils under sunflower-maize and 
wheat-maize rotations during 1998-99 and paddy-wheat 
rotation during 1999-2000. The pH, electrical 
conductivity, organic carbon and bulk density of soils 
used in this investigation varied from 8.3 to 8.5, 0.16 to 
0.24 dS'm, 0.59 to 0.63% and 1.19 to 1.40 g cm? 
respectively. Fly ash collected from the dumping sites of 
a Thermal Power Plant, Ropar, Punjab (India) was 
produced is being recycled through manufacture of 
cement, bricks and road construction. A bulk of fly ash is 
being disposed off on to the nearby agricultural lands 
thereby converting them into wastelands. Chemically, fly 
ash is a ferroalumino silicate material having high water 
holding capacity, low bulk density and is a rich source of 
essential plant nutrients besides some other trace metals. 
These characteristics of fly ash favour for its use in 
agriculture. Thus, to explore the possibility of its use in 
agriculture an attempt was made to study the effect of fly 
ash on i) crop yield ii) quality of crops and iii) soil health 
in sunflower-maize, wheat-maize and paddy-wheat 
rotation. 
applied € 0,10,20 and. 40 t/ha to in sunflower —maize 
and paddy-wheat rotations and @ 0,4,8, and 12 t/ha in 
wheat —maize rotation at the time of sowing and was 
thoroughly mixed in the plough layer. Average Chemical 
composition of fly ash used in this investigation is given 
in Table 1. Fly ash was applied only to the first crop in 
rotation and its residual effect was studied on the 
succeeding crops. Basal doses of N, P, K were applied to 
all the crops and recommended packages of practices 
were followed to raise these crops to maturity. 
    
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