
Coal Burning Byproduct Gives Ol Bossy
a Leg Up on MudBy Jan Suszkiw January 26, 1999Flyash could offer dairy farmers a low-cost material for paving feedlot
areas where deep mud can mire hefty cows and sap energy for producing milk.
Thats the conclusion of Agricultural
Research Service and collaborating scientists who studied the ashs
safety and durability. ARS is the U.S.
Department of Agricultures chief research agency. A byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity, flyash is normally
trucked off to landfills at a cost to electric utility companies. About 32
percent of the 60 million-plus tons generated annually is used for construction
and other applications, such as neutralizing acidic soils in crop fields. Now its also available to dairy farmers in parts of New York and
California as a cheap, barnyard paving resource. It dries just as hard as
concrete, but costs $6 per square yard versus $75. Studies by ARS soil scientist Bill Stout, geologist Tom Nicheson and two
commercial collaborators--Air Products and
Chemicals Gerry Thompson, and Black Rivers Co-Gen Partners Paul
Cunningham--helped expedite regulatory approval from the two states. One study, conducted in 1995-96 on a Harrisburg, Pa., dairy farm, examined
the environmental impact of spreading 33 tons of recycled flyash onto a
900-square-foot feedlot. Another feedlot was left bare. Lab analysis revealed some leaching of elements like calcium and heavy
metals beneath the ash. But the levels were well within
EPA limits, according to Stout at ARS
Pasture Systems and
Watershed Management Research Lab in University Park, Pa. Another benefit of paving, besides keeping cows above the mud: better
containment of nutrient-rich manure, which can otherwise get tramped into soggy
soils. On some San Joaquin Valley, Calif., dairy farms, flyash paving has
helped curb hairy footwort, a viral disease, and mastitis, a costly udder
infection. A more detailed story is in Agricultural Researchmagazines January issue, and on the Web at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan99/pave0199.htm Scientific contact: Bill Stout, ARS Pasture
Systems and Watershed Management, University Park, Pa., phone (814) 863-0947,
fax (814) 863-0935, [email protected], or Thomas
Nickeson, (717) 724-5451. Story contacts Watershed Management Research Jan R Suszkiw U.S. Department of Agriculture | |