Chapter 10 - An appraisal on phytomanagement of fly ash with economic returns

Abstract

Remediation and utilization of fly ash (FA) through ecologically and socioeconomically valuable plants are a safe and sustainable approach, considered as the phytomanagement of FA. Disposal of huge amount of FA not only requires large amount of water, energy, and thousands acres of land but also poses significant environmental and socioeconomic problems including health risk by airborne ash particles and leaching of heavy metals in the nearby surroundings. Micro- and macronutrient enriched FA is a good and cost-effective soil ameliorant for plant growth and establishment. However, nitrogen and carbon may be supplemented due to the absence in FA. Use of FA in agriculture may be unsafe due to the presence of heavy metals, but its use for the production of economically valuable nonedible crops would be an ideal approach along with carbon sequestration as a consequence lessens the climate change impact. In this chapter, we propose the phytomanagement of FA with economic returns by using economically valuable crops and discuss the prospects of the utilization of phytoproducts during the phytoremediation of FA/agricultural uses of FA. This chapter assessed the SWOT analysis of phytoproduct production from FA through phytomanagement approach that can generate billion dollars as economic returns and provide a sustainable way of FA use having ecological and socioeconomic benefits.