Waste slag benefits for correction of soil acidity

Abstract

Abstract The global trend is to find new materials with improved environment friendly. The sustainable development of 2030 AGENDA and Waste Management Legislation sustain the disposal of a large quantity of slag at landfill sites by causing environmental consequences which has drawn attention to the need for its more effective recycling. Heavy industries have been operating in the Galati area for over 30 years and an ecological education is necessary for an efficient management of waste slag. The agricultural land resources are an issue world-wide and through this investigative study we showed that the mixture of blast furnace slag and waste slag dumped in landfill can help remediation of the soil acidity and increasing the crop yield. The chemical, structural and morphological properties of three investigated different slag samples are evaluated for recycling in agriculture. Results indicated that the obtained mixture of the slag waste dumped in landfill and of granulated metallurgical slag shows its usage in saving the affected lands. Therefore, by elemental analysis determined by X-ray fluorescence analytical equipment, the optimum weight ratio for the composition of soil-slag mixture were achieved. The obtained mixture presents a balance between soil pH = 5.2 corresponding to a medium acid soil and slag pH = 12.5 which corresponds as strongly basic character which is beneficial in amelioration process of acidic soils for the improving of soil characteristics.