Modelling agronomic properties of Technosols constructed with urban wastes

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2013.12.016

Waste Management

Volume 34, Issue 11, November 2014, Pages 2155-2162

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2013.12.016 Get rights and content

Highlights

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Agronomic properties of waste mixtures result from soil construction processes.
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Variation of physico-chemical properties of waste mixtures depend on the type and ratio of selected wastes.
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Modelling of the fertility of the new substrates is obtained after formulation of wastes.
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Development of a prediction tool of the fertility of waste mixtures: a cornerstone for soil eco-conception.

Abstract

The greening of urban and suburban areas requires large amounts of arable earth that is a non-renewable resource. However, concentration of population in cities leads to the production of high amounts of wastes and by-products that are nowadays partly recycled as a resource and quite systematically exported out of urban areas. To preserve natural soil resources, a strategy of waste recycling as fertile substitutes is proposed. Eleven wastes are selected for their environmental harmlessness and their contrasted physico-chemical properties for their potential use in pedological engineering. The aim is (i) to demonstrate the feasibility of the formulation of fertile substrates exclusively with wastes and (ii) to model their physico-chemical properties following various types, number and proportions of constitutive wastes. Twenty-five binary and ternary combinations are tested at different ratios for total carbon, Olsen available phosphorus, cation exchange capacity, water pH, water retention capacity and bulk density. Dose–response curves describe the variation of physico-chemical properties of mixtures depending on the type and ratio of selected wastes. If these mixtures mainly mimic natural soils, some of them present more extreme urban soil features, especially for pH and P_Olsen. The fertility of the new substrates is modelled by multilinear regressions for the main soil properties.

Introduction

Is it possible to recycle urban wastes for the construction of fertile soils in cities as a substitute for natural soil resources? plants in urban environments present a growing interest in daily life, health and well-being (Nielsen and Hansen, 2007). Indeed, green areas present advantages regarding biodiversity, urban water infiltration and also contribute to the decrease of urban heat island phenomenon (Lorenz and Lal, 2009). However, soils in urban areas are mainly not favourable mediums for plant growth considering their low physical and chemical fertility (Jim, 1998). Urban soils are characterised by a high spatial heterogeneity as a result of the mixture of technogenic artefacts in Technosols (WRB, 2006) with native materials (Morel et al., 2005). These soils are characterised by (i) coarse texture; (ii) extreme values of bulk density that are either high (>1.6 g cm⁻³) or very low (<0.5 g cm⁻³); (iii) high pH values (pH > 7.5) resulting from alkalising products mixed in the soil; (iv) high C/N ratio because of a low N content; and (v) potentially enhanced pollution level (Morel et al., 2005). Therefore, to insure the implementation of urban green areas, large quantities of upper soil materials imported from agricultural or forestlands are needed (in France 3 millions of m³ year⁻¹). At the same time, cities consume high quantities of raw materials that give rise to great amounts of urban wastes (e.g., rubble, household refuse, industrial wastes and by-products). In France, 770 million tons of wastes and by-products (called “wastes” in the article) were produced in 2009, 5.3 million tons corresponding to municipal wastes (public refuse, sewage sludge, and green wastes), 253 million tons to wastes resulting from civil engineering, 32 million tons to household wastes, 106 million tons to industrial wastes and 374 million tons to wastes from forest and agriculture (ADEME, 2012). These wastes are consistently exported out of cities, part of them being recycled into industrial processes, others directly spread on agricultural soils (e.g., compost, urban and industrial sludge) and most of them landfilled (Marshall and Farahbakhsh, 2013).

The aim of the present work is to limit the exportation of wastes out of cities by recycling them in urban soil construction. Some previous experiments have been led by mixing wastes together (e.g., sewage sludge, compost, and paper mill sludge) to restore industrial brownfields (Fierro et al., 1999, Séré et al., 2008) or by adding organic wastes to planting holes (Craul, 1999, Grosbellet et al., 2011). But, in these particular studies few wastes ratios have been well investigated. Thus the complexity of the potential interactions in the wastes combination could not be understood. Moreover, the question of reaching the optimum wastes ratio in the mixture stays unanswered, whereas this step is required to develop at a larger scale pedological engineering by the recycling of urban wastes into constructed soils. The aim of this study is to provide answers to the following questions: (i) Is it feasible to create fertile substrates, which mimic natural soils, exclusively with wastes? (ii) Is it possible to describe with appropriate models the variation of physico-chemical properties of mixtures constituted by various proportions of wastes? (iii) Is the fertility of these mixtures predictable out of the characteristics of the constitutive materials?

Section snippets

Selection of wastes

A national research program funded by the French environmental agency (programme SITERRE–ADEME) is dedicated to the development of pedological engineering for the construction of soils in urban areas. During this program, eleven wastes have been selected in the European waste catalogue (European commission n° 94/3/CEE, 1993). The criteria of selection were: the volume of production, the availability all over the French regions, the low toxicity and the potential fertility as mineral and/or

Physico-chemical properties of the wastes

Total carbon concentrations were ranging from 0.8 to 278 g kg⁻¹ (Table 2). Two main groups can be distinguished: the organic wastes exhibited C_tot concentrations higher than 100 g kg⁻¹ (CO, GW, PM, SS, SW) whereas the mineral wastes had contents lower than 30 g kg⁻¹ (AE, BE, BR, CR, DR, TB). Concerning the organic wastes, three of them (CO, GW and SW) were free of carbonates (C_min < 1 g kg⁻¹) and the entire C can consequently be assimilated to organic carbon (C_org) ranging from 173 to 278 g kg⁻¹. On the

Characteristics and typology of wastes

Regarding agronomic properties, no individual waste material can be assimilated to a natural soil or horticultural substrate. However, each waste presents a potential fertility regarding physical or chemical properties. Thus, each waste will play a specific role in mixtures. Some wastes (e.g., CO, GW and SW) are commonly applied as organic fertilizers in agricultural and also on reclaimed derelict soils because they potentially improve soil chemical fertility (Singh and Agrawal, 2008, Wright et

Conclusion

The original purpose of this study was to focus on agronomic properties of waste mixtures resulting from soil construction processes. Dose–response curves describe the variation of physico-chemical properties of mixtures depending on the type and ratio of selected wastes. If these mixtures mainly mimic natural soils, some of them present more extreme urban soil features, especially for pH and P_Olsen. The fertility of the new substrates obtained after formulation of wastes is modelled by

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the ADEME (French Environmental Agency, SITERRE research project) and conducted within the framework of the GISFI (www.gisfi.fr). The authors wish to thank the technical staff of LSE (Adeline Bouchard, Stéphane Colin), of GISFI (Rémi Baldo, Lucas Charrois), master students (Manon Santeramo, Axel Roy) and all the partners involved in the SITERRE program for their substantial help. Some data used have been obtained within the framework of the GIS Sol (www.gissol.fr).

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Modelling agronomic properties of Technosols constructed with urban wastes

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Selection of wastes

Physico-chemical properties of the wastes

Characteristics and typology of wastes

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Geoderma

Landscape Urban Plann.

Environ. Int.

Waste Manage.

Encyclopedia Soils Environ.

Health Place

Waste Manage.

Waste Manage.

A new initiative in France: a multi-scale multi-institutional soil quality monitoring network

Comptes rendus de l’Academie d’Agriculture de France

Using CU-Structural Soil in the Urban Environment

Urban Soils: Applications and Practices