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| MSI09P4439 | |
| Soobadar, A | |
| Université d'Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse, FR | |
| Impacts agronomiques et environnementaux des épandages de la vinasse et de cendre de charbon/bagasse sur les terres agricoles de l'île Maurice | |
| Thesis, PhD | |
| Thesis | |
| 2009 | |
| 171 p.: 42 figs, 21 tbls, 18 appen. | |
| Fr | |
| Fr | |
| Of the 85 000 hectares of arable land in Mauritius, sugar cane occupies some 85 per cent of that area, the remainder is made up mostly of vegetables and fruit trees. To ensure its economic viability and long term sustainability, the sugar cane industry through a reform program is striving to add value to its by-products by producing ethanol from molasses and by optimizing energy production from bagasse during the harvest season. However these two avenues generate considerable wastes (400 000 T/yr of vinasse during ethanol distillation and 40 000 T/yr of coal/bagasse ash during the production of electricity), which have to be judiciously disposed of with a minimum of risk to the environment. Among the disposal means for these wastes, the application of vinasse and coal/bagasse ash to agricultural land is believed to represent the most sensible economic option from both the agronomic and environmental point of view. In this context before recommending elimination of the wastes through disposal on agricultural lands, a study has been conducted to determine the effects of high doses of vinasse and coal/bagasse ash on soil quality, on the sugar cane plant and on groundwater quality. Analyses of vinasse samples collected at regular intervals of three months during 2005 to 2008 showed that its chemical composition was very variable. However these analyses also showed that as vinasse contained on average 9.37 g/L of K, its fertilization value was mostly as a source of potassium. Nevertheless at an application rate of 100 m3/ha vinasse, it can in addition represent a significant source of N (average of 122 kg N/ha) and of organic matter (average of 8-15 per cent dry matter). Vinasse also contained heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn, Pb) but their concentrations were negligible and were well below the detection limit of the atomic absorption spectrophotometer (5 mg/kg for Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb and 10mg/kg for Mn). As opposed to vinasse which is acidic in nature (an average pH of 4.5), coal or bagasse ash is alkaline with a pH varying between 7.5 and 11.5 and can therefore be used to amend soil acidity. When applied at 100 T/ha coal ash would represent a significant source of potassium (average of 139 kg K/ha) and of phosphorus (average of 298 kg P/ha) to the sugar cane crop. Due to its low contents of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn, Pb, and Hg) and to the absence of organic micro pollutants, coal ash is unlikely to enhance the levels of these contaminants in the soil, in the sugar cane crop or in the groundwater. Laboratory studies had demonstrated that coal and bagasse ash were able to strongly adsorb the herbicides atrazine and hexazinone with a sorption coefficient (km) of 0.13 for atrazine and 0.32 for hexazinone. They would thereby act to decrease the movement of these herbicides to groundwater. Analyses of the soils at the study sites showed that the application of vinasse lowered soil pH from an average of 5.9 to 5.4, but this decrease was only temporary and was not significant enough to affect sugar cane growth. In fact the soil pH returned to its initial value shortly after the application of the 100 m3/ha vinasse. On the other hand, coal ash raised soil pH but this rise in pH was likewise not significant to crop growth. Vinasse and coal ash applied at the high rates of 100 m3/ha and 100 T/ha respectively raised the electrical conductivity of the soil, but in spite of this increase, the electrical conductivity remained below the threshold value of 1700 µS/cm recommended for sugar cane. Furthermore if an application rate of 100 m3/ha of vinasse did increase the organic carbon content of certain soils, it was not observed with coal ash at 100 T/ha. | |
| sugarcane vinasse fly ash bagasse waste utilization water quality soils fertilization plant nutrition pollution environment wastes nutrients yields heavy metals dissolved organic matter groundwater | |
| Mauritius | |
| Sugarcane: Environmental management | |
| Sugar factory wastes | |
| 2009-12-04 | |
| En | |
| LIB | |
| CAT | |
| 1 | |
| CHEM |