Identification of the major contributors to the high pH of fly ash followed by chemically induced pH reduction

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Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. is an engineered wood facility that employs ~300 fulltime staff and makes use of wood residuals that it generates, as well as waste produced by a number of forest product companies in southeastern B.C. to generate electricity and process steam for its engineered wood product facility in Golden, B.C. This electricity and process steam is generated by burning wood chips, bark and wood fiber in a biomass-fired power plant and as a result of this burning; approximately 4400 tonnes of ash residuals are produced at this facility every year. After 20 years in operation ~88000 tonnes of ash residuals have been generated and stored in onsite landfill cells. Presently, once onsite landfill cells reach capacity the facility has the option to open another landfill cell or transport the ash residuals to a permanent landfill. However Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. would like to reduce its impact on the environment and reuse the ash residuals as a nutrient rich fertilizer for agricultural lands. Before the ash residuals can be applied as a fertilizer the high pH of the ash needs to be chemically reduced and the sodium content needs to be optimized for agricultural use. Unfortunately, chemically reducing the pH of ash residuals from a biomass-fired power plant for application on agricultural fields as a fertilizer has never been done before. To accomplish this, Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. has entered into a collaborative partnership with KRL Solutions Ltd., to look into the feasibility of using ash residuals as a fertilizer and with scientists at Thompson Rivers University to provide scientific expertise in experimental design and chemical reduction. Together, this partnership will identify a safe and environmentally friendly method of reducing the pH of the ash residuals and assess the feasibility of the large scale chemical reduction and reuse of the ~88000 tonnes of ash residuals currently in onsite landfills at the engineered wood product facility in Golden, B.C. The success of this initial research project will provide the knowledge necessary to reduce the ~4 million tonnes of ash residuals that end up in landfills each year from similar facilities across Canada.