Application Of Fly Ash As Ameliorant In Peatland Environment : The Release Of Micro Nutrients And Heavy Metals

Abstract

Some researchers showed that fly ash can be used to improve the chemicalpmperties of soil, such as increasing pH, exchangeable cations and base saturation. However, the application of fly ash as soil ameliorant in Indonesia is still constrained by government regulation that fly ash is classified as toxic and dangerous waste materials due to the contains of heavy metals. The objective of this research is to study the release of micro nutrients and heavy metals from ash in peat environment. This research was conducted by batch method with shaking fly ash in aquadest and peat water as solvent, and by column percolation method with flushing the mixture of fly ash and peat. Cations of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni dissolved infiltrate were measured by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Fly ashes used in this study originated from peat boiler (PB), chip boiler (CB) and multi boiler (IMB).