Chemical Composition of Industrial Wood Waste and the Possibility of its Management

Abstract

Organic wood waste (sawdust, shavings, pieces of wood and bark), is widely used as a secondary raw material and, after composting, for soil fertilisation and substrate production in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, urban landscaping and rehabilitation of degraded land. However, problematic to process is wood waste that is very dirty with soil. They have limited calorific value and cannot be used in the R10 recovery process of land treatment benefiting agriculture or improving the environment. However, the morphological composition of these wastes indicates that they have good properties and can be used for agricultural use and for the reclamation of degraded land. The research involved wood waste with the code 03 01 99 (other unspecified waste from wood processing and the production of panels and furniture) generated during the preparation of deciduous tree logs for the veneer production process, and ashes from the burning of wood waste generated in the veneer production factory. The aim of the study was to assess the chemical composition of these wastes and the possibility of their agricultural use. In the samples of wood waste and ashes there was determined: pH; chlorines content; conductivity; hydrolytic acidity; content of micro and macroelements and heavy metals. The morphological composition of the waste is dominated by sawdust, with a smaller share of shavings, bark and earth parts, and a small addition of pieces of wood of various sizes. It is rich in easily bioavailble as well as total macroelements and is not contaminated with heavy metals. Analyzed wood waste has deacidifying properties, high sorption and buffering capacity. Studies have shown that the wood waste produced at the veneer factory, can be used as an organic fertiliser, a component of other organic fertilisers, for soil mulching, horticultural substrate and soil and land reclamation.The ash obtained from burning wood is strongly alkaline and rich in alkaline cations, mainly Ca, Mg and K. It is not contaminated with heavy metals. The ash can be used for soil deacidification and fertilization, especially for soil reclamation. The waste from the heap can be used as an organic fertilizer, a component of other organic fertilizers, for mulching soils and as a gardening substrate. However, the possibilities for non-agricultural (e.g.: for the production of pallet, particle board) use are limited due to the high proportion of earthy parts.