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Relationships between Biosolids Treatment Process and Soil Phosphorus Availability
Author(s) -
Maguire R.O.,
Sims J.T.,
Dentel S.K.,
Coale F.J.,
Mah J.T.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2001.3031023x
Subject(s) - biosolids , phosphorus , environmental science , process (computing) , environmental chemistry , environmental engineering , chemistry , computer science , organic chemistry , operating system
Laws mandating phosphorus (P)‐based nutrient management plans have been passed in several U.S. Mid‐Atlantic states. Biosolids (sewage sludge) are frequently applied to agricultural land and in this study we evaluated how biosolids treatment processes and biosolids P tests were related to P behavior in biosolids‐amended soils. Eight biosolids generated by different treatment processes, with respect to digestion and iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), and lime addition, and a poultry litter (PL), were incubated with an Elkton silt loam (fine‐silty, mixed, active, mesic Typic Endoaquult) and a Suffolk sandy loam (fine‐loamy, siliceous, semiactive, thermic Typic Hapludult) for 51 d. The amended soils were analyzed at 1 and 51 d for water‐soluble phosphorus (WSP), iron‐oxide strip–extractable phosphorus (FeO‐P), Mehlich‐1 P and pH. The biosolids and PL were analyzed for P, Fe, and Al by USEPA 3050 acid–peroxide digestion and acid ammonium oxalate, Mehlich‐1, and Mehlich‐3 extractions. Biosolids and PL amendments increased extractable P in the Suffolk sandy loam to a greater extent than in the Elkton silt loam throughout the 51 d of the incubation. The trend of extractable WSP, FeO‐P, and Mehlich‐1 P generally followed the pattern: [soils amended with biosolids produced without the use of Fe or Al] > [PL and biosolids produced using Fe or Al and lime] > [biosolids produced using only Fe and Al salts]. Mehlich‐3 P and the molar ratio of P to [Al + Fe] by either the USEPA 3050 digestion or oxalate extraction of the biosolids were good predictors of changes in soil‐extractable P following biosolids but not PL amendment. Therefore, the testing of biosolids for P availability, rather than total P, is a more appropriate tool for predicting extractable P from the biosolids‐amended soils used in this study.