Plant Growth in Two Acidic Soils Amended with Wallboard Waste by William Brandon Crouch

134 Pages·2011·0.73 MB·English

Plant Growth in Two Acidic Soils Amended with Wallboard Waste
by
William Brandon Crouch
(under the direction of William Paul Miller)
Fiberglass-faced wallboard consisting of gypsum, fiberglass, and urea formaldehyde is
used in construction to form finish walls. Waste and cut-off gypsum based wallboard constitute
1.5 million Mg of construction waste per year and are readily amenable to on-site grinding in
preparation for soil amendment. The objective of the study was to determine if fiberglass
wallboard had any deleterious effect on growth or composition of agronomic crops. Application
of three types of wallboard was made at three rates (11.2, 22.4, and 44.8 Mg/ha) to two soils
(Cecil and Tifton) planted with two plants (wheat and sorghum) in a greenhouse evaluation. The
biomass of both plants was unaffected by wallboard application, while soil pH and calcium
concentration increased. Wheat tissue decreased in Mn, As, Ba and increased in Mo. Sorghum
tissue decreased in K, Mg, Ba, and As. The application of fiberglass-faced wallboard was judged
to have no negative effects under these conditions.

INDEXED WORDS: Waste Wallboard, Fiberglass, Urea Formaldehyde
PLANT GROWTH IN TWO ACIDIC SOILS AMENDED WITH WALLBOARD WASTE

by

William Brandon Crouch
B.S., University of Arkansas, 2007

A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment
of Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF SCIENCE

ATHENS, GEORGIA
2011
©2011
All Rights Reserved
PLANT GROWTH IN TWO ACIDIC SOILS AMENDED WITH WALLBOARD WASTE

by

William Brandon Crouch

Major professor: William P. Miller
Committee members: Miguel Cabrera
Aaron Thompson
Electronic Version Approved:
(Dr. Scott Angle)
Dean of the Graduate School
The University of Georgia
(December 2011)
Acknowledgements:
To all those that have helped with this research I thank you, especially, Gene Weeks at
the Laboratory of Environmental Analysis with his work on the ICP-MS and to Kurk Lance at
the Crop and Soil Science greenhouse with his superior management of the greenhouse and to
Kendall Clark at Georgia Pacific for funding this research. This thesis could not have been
written without my family and friends support.

IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………….IV
LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................VI
LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................X
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................1
2 REVIEW OF LITERTURE..............................................................................................3
A. GYPSUM AS A BUILDING AND WASTE MATERIAL IN
CONSTURCTION………………………………………………………………1
B. GYPSUM AS A SOIL AMENDMENT……………………………………...6
C. FACINGS AND ADDITIVES IN WALLBOARD…………………………..15
D. WALLBOARD USE AS A SOIL AMENDMENT…………………………..22
E. OBJECTIVES…..……………………………………………………………..27
3 MATERIALS AND METHODS………………………………………………………33
4 RESULTS AND DISSCUSSION……………………………………………………...41
5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………66
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………115

V
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1: Total amounts of C&D waste disposed and recovered by state ……………………….28
Table 2: LEED measures, categories of certification, and the point system of
certification………………………………………………………………………………………28
Table 3: pH increase in UF additions to Douglus-fir field experiment……………………….…28
Table 4: Chemical Composition of Flue-gas desulfurization gypsum…………………………...29
Table 5: Sieve test on pulverized wallboard with particle size and percentages...…..…………..29
Table 6: Composition and properties of E-fiberglass……………………………………………30
Table 7: Urea formaldehyde resin formed at varying pH and subsequent formaldehyde
emission……………….…………………………………………………………………………30
Table 8: Elemental analysis of wallboard and agricultural gypsum…………...………………...31
Table 9: Soil test results for Cecil and Tifton A horizons used in the greenhouse experiments...38
Table 10: Recommended fertilizer applications before planting………...………………………38
Table 11: Particle size analysis determination by hydrometer, sand, silt, and clay percentages...38
Table 12: Application of wallboard in the experiment in Metric and U.S. Ton…………..…..…39
Table 13: Full recommend fertilizer application quantities for greenhouse plants …………..…39
Table 14: Soil data prior to experimentation…………………..…………………………...……39
Table 15: Amendment elemental composition (Part 1)……………………………………..…...69
Table 16: Amendment elemental composition (Part 2)...…………………………...…………...69
VI
Table 17: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with sorghum and
amended by various rates of agricultural gypsum (Part 1)…………………..………………......70
Table 18: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with sorghum and
amended by various rates of agricultural gypsum (Part 2)……………………...…………..…...71
Table 19: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with sorghum and
amended by various rates of paper-faced wallboard (Part 1)…….…………..…..………...……72
Table 20: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with sorghum and
amended by various rates of paper-faced wallboard (Part 2)……………………….…………...73
Table 21: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with sorghum and
amended by various rates of wallboard mixture (Part 1)……………………..…………...……..74
Table 22: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with sorghum and
amended by various rates of wallboard mixture (Part 2)..………………………………….……75
Table 23: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with sorghum and
amended by various rates of fiberglass-faced wallboard (Part 1)...……………………………...76
Table 24: Elemental concentrations in extracts of two soils planted with sorghum amended by
rates of fiberglass-faced wallboard (Part 2)...………………………………..…………………..77
Table 25: Elemental concentrations of sorghum planted in two soils amended with rates of
agriculture gypsum (Part 1)………………….…………………………………………...…...…78
Table 26: Elemental concentrations of sorghum planted in two soils amended with rates of
agriculture gypsum (Part 2)………………….………………………………………...……..….79
Table 27: Elemental concentrations of sorghum planted in two soils amended with rates of paper-
faced wallboard waste (Part 1)……….…………………………………………...……………..80
VII
Table 28: Elemental concentrations of sorghum planted in two soils amended with rates of paper-
faced wallboard waste (Part 2)……………………………..…………………………...…….…81
Table 29: Elemental concentrations of sorghum planted in two soils amended with rates of
wallboard mixture waste (Part 1)..…..………………………………………………………...…82
Table 30: Elemental concentrations of sorghum planted in two soils amended with rates of
wallboard mixture waste (Part 2).…...………………………………………………..…….....…83
Table 31: Elemental concentrations of sorghum planted in two soil amended with rates of
fiberglass-faced wallboard (Part 1).……………………………...………………...………….....84
Table 32: Elemental concentrations of sorghum planted in two soil amended with rates of
fiberglass-faced wallboard (Part 2)………………………………………………………...…….85
Table 33: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with wheat and
amended by various rates of agriculture gypsum (Part 1)…………………………………...….93
Table 34: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with wheat and
amended by various rates of agriculture gypsum (Part 2)………………………...…………….94
Table 35: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with wheat and
amended by various rates of paper-faced wallboard (Part 1).………………………….……….95
Table 36: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with wheat and
amended by various rates of paper-faced wallboard (Part 2).……...…………………………...96
Table 37: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with wheat and
amended by various rates of wallboard mixture (Part 1)………………………………………..97
Table 38: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with wheat and
amended by various rates of wallboard mixture (Part 2)………………………………….……98
VIII
Tables 39: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with wheat and
amended by various rates of fiberglass-faced wallboard (Part 1)………………………..…......99
Table 40: Elemental concentrations in soil extractions from two soils planted with wheat and
amended by various rates of fiberglass-faced wallboard (Part 2)…………………….………..100
Table 41: Elemental concentrations of wheat planted in two soils amended with rates of
agriculture gypsum (Part 1)…...……………………...……………………….………………..101
Table 42: Elemental concentrations of wheat planted in two soils amended with rates of
agricultural gypsum (Part 2)………………....………………………………………...……….102
Table 43: Elemental concentrations of wheat planted in two soils amended with rates of paper-
faced wallboard waste (Part 1)………………..………………………...………………………103
Table 44: Elemental concentrations of wheat planted in two soils amended with rates of paper-
faced wallboard waste (Part 2)………………………..……………………………………..….104
Table 45: Elemental concentrations of wheat planted in two soils amended with rates of
wallboard mixture (paper-faced and fiberglass-faced wallboard mixture) wallboard waste (Part
1)…………………………..…………………………………………………………..………..105
Table 46: Elemental concentrations of wheat planted in two soils amended with rates of
wallboard mixture (paper-faced and fiberglass-faced wallboard mixture) wallboard waste (Part
2)…………………………………………………………………………………..……………106
Table 47: Elemental concentrations of wheat planted in two soils amended with rates of
fiberglass-faced wallboard waste (Part 1)………………………………………………….…..107
Table 48: Elemental concentrations of wheat planted in two soils amended with rates of
fiberglass-faced wallboard waste (Part 2)………………………………………………..…….108

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