| Biosolids pellets (BP) are the dried solid residuals produced during wastewater treatment. One alternative to costly landfill disposal of BP is land application as soil amendment. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the ability of BP produced at the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) to successfully enhance vegetation growth with environmental impacts comparable to conventional fertilizers. The performance of MSD BP was compared to that of Milorganite, a commercially available biosolids product, and that of a conventional inorganic chemical fertilizer.; The testing procedure involved fertilization and seeding of 20 test plots for which pre-test soil analyses were performed. Analyses of soil chemistry, vegetative growth and chemistry, and surface runoff water quality for each of the three soil amendments were performed to facilitate comparison. Data on runoff quality, vegetation growth and soil characteristics were analyzed to identify and quantify the effects of the following variables in the demonstration: MSD BP versus other amendments; different rates of amendment application; differences in seed mix applied; and differences in soil characteristics from plot to plot. The analysis showed that MSD BP can be used in land application as a soil amendment with environmental impacts similar to existing soil amendment products. |
