Nitrogen Oxide Flux from Sludge-Amended Soil

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9803746 Peirce The objective of this project is to determine the significance of nitric oxide flux from sludge-amended soils under conditions that simulate field application that will assist in establishing engineering design limitations of aggressive use of soil for management of sludges derived from treatment of domestic wastewater. Nitrogenous substances applied to soil from all sources including chemical fertilizers are subject to physical, chemical and biological processes that indirectly or directly affect their transport and alter their physical state. The application of residual sludges to agricultural soil may significantly impact the microbial production of nitrogen oxides, the production of which may adversely impact local and regional air quality. Soils to be investigated in the laboratory will be obtained from agricultural land comparable to that currently being used for land application of sludge. Sludge will be obtained from the Chapel Hill, North Carolina wastewater treatment plant. Recently emphasis on aggressive use of land for sludge management suggests determining whether knowledge currently available regarding the nitrogen oxide emission characteristics from these soils and their role in contribution to formation of atomospheric ozone is sufficient to establish engineering design parameters for this management concept. In this renewal of exploratory research initiated under NSF Grant No. 9727886, laboratory studies at Duke University will be used to guide field studies conducted in cooperation with North Carolina State University co-investigators Dr. Viney P. Aneja, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Dr. Wayne P. Robarge, Department of Soil Science. Results of laboratory experiments will be compared with those from field studies to determine the scope of additional research needed to relate existing knowledge of the flux of reactive nitrogen oxide from natural and chemically fertilized soils to soils that are used for sludge management. ***