Physico-Chemical Characterization of Wood Ash for Agronomic Purposes

Abstract

The oil refinery of the food products company SOPAL, located in the port area of TOGO, produces an average of 200 kg of eucalyptus wood ash per day. This ash is stored in large quantities within the premises of the refinery, without any disposal solution. The aim of this study is to identify the physico-chemical properties of SOPAL's wood ash for agronomic valorization. Physico-chemical analyses reveal the presence of major and secondary elements such as potassium (15.71 g/kg DM), phosphorus (27.90 g/kg DM), calcium (9.76 g/kg DM), magnesium (0.03 g/kg DM), sodium (1.24 g/kg DM), iron (1.49 g/kg DM) and manganese (7.82 g/kg DM). The pH is alkaline (12.97) with fairly high conductivity (24.10 mS/Cm). Heavy metals identified are cobalt (0.19 mg/kg DM), cadmium (0.10 mg/kg DM), lead (1.14 mg/kg DM), copper (19.77 mg/kg DM) and nickel (12.82 mg/kg DM). The results show that the ash contains considerable amount of major and secondary elements for agronomic uses.