Wood ash has been widely used as an additive for excreta from dry compost toilets to sanitize it for reuse. However, there is dearth of quantitative information about its efficiency in sanitizing partially digested sludge from wet onsite sanitation systems. This paper presents findings of a series of two experimental studies to assess optimum wood ash dosages required to raise the pH of partial...

The combustion properties of various biomass and wood materials from various references and from our laboratory were reanalysed. The net heat of combustion for cellulosic materials was found to be 13.23 kJ/g times the ratio of stoichiometric oxygen mass to fuel mass, ro, regardless of the material composition. Bomb calorimeter data for original, charred and volatilized material components provi...

Treculia africana (African breadfruit) seeds extracted from fresh fruit heads were treated with graded concentrations (1% 5%) of trona (sodium sesquicarbonate) and wood ash for 5 – 25 min to evaluate their demucilaginating effectiveness. Seeds from naturally fermented and unfermented fruit heads served as controls. The effect of the demucilaginating aid on nutrient composition, colour and water...

Short-term effects of different doses (0.25 and 0.5 kg m) of wood ash fertilization in a field experiment in a 20-year-old Scots pine stand on a nutrient-poor sandy soil (Arenosol) was studied in North Estonia. Soil chemical properties, nutrient accumulation, soluble carbohydrates, starch, hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin were used as biochemical indicators for the assessment of the state o...

Silicone (polydimethylsiloxanes, or PDMS) fluids are widely used in industrial and consumer products, and may find their way into municipal biosolids that are eventually applied to the land. In soil PDMS breaks down into dimethylsilanediol which is then either volatilized or biodegraded. Since biosolids are often composted prior to land application, this paper investigates fate and effects of P...

Conocarpus erectus L. is a fast growing tree, drought resistant and it is widely planted throughout Saudi Arabia around parking lots and along the streets. It constitutes a renewable resource that could be used as a source of raw materials required for several uses. However, no data were available about its wood quality. This study was established to investigate the effect of plant spacing on s...

In Northern Europe the use of tree biomass for production of energy is mostly based on thinning of forests, harvest residues, stumps from final cutting, bark of commercial roundwood, and organic waste of pulp industry. Results based on field experiments allow estimations of 137Cs activity removed from forests in wood fuel, and also the activity returned in ash used as a fertiliser. After one fe...

Gasification of biomass ultimately generates at least one solid byproduct in which the inorganic constituents of the biomass are concentrated. Given the potential for utilization, or issues with disposal, facile methods are needed for determining the compositions of the fly ashes from recently-available gasifier-based bioenergy systems. Proton induced x-ray emission spectroscopy (PIXE) and indu...

The emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), a phloem-feeding insect from Asia, was identified in 2002 as the cause of widespread ash (Fraxinus sp.) mortality in southeastern Michigan and Essex County, Ontario. Most larvae overwinter as nonfeeding prepupae in the outer sapwood or thick bark of large trees. In a series of studies, we evaluated effects of grindi...

Chemical modification of hardwood sawdust from ash-tree species was carried out with a solution of maleic anhydride in acetone. Wood polymers, lignin, and cellulose were isolated from the wood sawdust and modified by the same method. Samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), providing evidence that maleic anhydride esterifies the free hydroxyl groups of the w...