Ash4Soil, an innovation project that will use biomass ash and sorghum to achieve a productive soil improvement
With a budget of €600,000 and a subsidy of €575,700.36, 80% co-financed by EAFRD funds, the Ash4Soil project is launched, a supra-autonomous operational group that aims to achieve an improvement in the quality of acidic soils and an increase in productivity in forestry and agricultural plantations through the development and use of an amendment-fertilizer material, called Ash4Soil, obtained from forest biomass and residues of livestock origin.
Spain has approximately 40% of acidic soils with reduced productive potential due to their low pH. For this reason, the use of calcareous amendments is essential to improve the fertility of the soil, always complemented by the addition of fertilizing elements to meet the needs of the crops (mainly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium).
The whitewashing materials used in Spain come mainly from quarries in the east and south of the peninsula (Tarragona, Barcelona, Almería), whose activity involves a strong environmental impact and requires a large consumption of fossil fuels to be transported to Spanish areas with acidic pH, such as Extremadura, Castile and León and Galicia. The transport of these materials generates important environmental costs that could be solved through the use of by-products rich in calcium available in the area, as is the case with ash, promoting the bioeconomy and the circular economy.
The potential for generating ash of forest origin in Galicia is very high, around 50,000 tonnes per year. It is, therefore, a highly available by-product that could be used as limestone, achieving its revaluation, the reduction of costs and emissions associated with the transport of limestone materials and the development of a new business model based on a product that originates from biomass, thus complying with the objectives of the European circular economy strategy and the bioeconomy.
In this context, the operational group Ash4Soil was born, which aims to evaluate the benefits in terms of agricultural and forestry performance through the use of an amendment-fertilizer (Ash4Soil) for acidic soils made from ashes from the burning of forest by-products in combination with an organic fertilizer of high quality made from slurry obtained from livestock farms in Galicia, Extremadura and Castile and León.
To achieve this goal, a multidisciplinary team was formed coordinated by the Fundación Empresa-Universidad Gallega (FEUGA), in which the company Greenalia Biomass Power Curtis Teixeiro SLU participate as partners, as a supplier of ash of forest origin, the livestock farms Sociedade Cooperativa A Carqueixa, Agrobarcenilla SL and Almacenes Boina SL, as suppliers of manure and chicken manure and of agricultural trial land where the product will be evaluated, the company SELGA – Compañía Galega de Silvicultores SL, as a supplier of forest demonstration plots where the product will be evaluated, and the company Álvaro Rodríguez Eiras SL (ARESA), which provides commercial circuits already established between all the autonomous communities involved in the project (Galicia, Extremadura and Castile and León).
Ash4Soil desenvolverase, experimentará e validará ao longo de máis de 3 anos, durante os que se levará a cabo a formulación e desenvolvemento do produto emendante-fertilizante obtido a partir da caracterización fisicoquímica e mestura de cinzas procedentes da queima de biomasa forestal e residuos de gandería con propiedades fertilizantes (xurro/esterco de galiña). Este produto será avaliado en solos acedos para estudar o seu potencial emendante e fertilizante. Cos resultados obtidos levarase a cabo a cuantificación de indicadores de sustentabilidade económica, ambiental e social do produto obtido para elaborar un indicador de sostibilidade integrado, que será validado por grupos focais compostos polos principais actores dos sectores de interese. Ademais, levaranse a cabo ensaios co produto en terreos agrícolas (trigo e cerdeira) e forestais (frondosas e coníferas) para a validación do produto emendante-fertilizante. A última fase do proxecto consistirá en determinar as propiedades e especificacións a cumprir polo novo produto para a súa comercialización segundo a normativa e lexislación vixentes.
Coa finalización exitosa do proxecto Ash4Soil terase conseguido un produto emendante-fertilizante para solos acedos que permitirá favorecer a economía circular e a sostibilidade da actividade agraria e forestal ao conseguir unha mellora na produtividade unha diminución dos seus custos globais, unha redución do emprego de produtos de orixe sintético, coa consecuente redución en emisións de gases de efecto invernadoiro directos e indirectos (produción e transporte), e a valorización de residuos de orixe agraria e forestal, que facilitarán o reciclado de nutrientes e contribuirán a limitar o recheo de vertedoiros. Os resultados ademais están en liña co Real Decreto sobre produtos biofertilizantes.
The Ash4Soil project is part of the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC) 2023-2027, financed 80% by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) of the European Union and 20% by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA ). The General Directorate of Rural Development, Innovation and Agro-Food Training (DGDRIFA) is the authority responsible for the application of these aids. Total project budget: €600,000.00. Total subsidy: €575,700.36.
The Ash4Soil operating group is the entity responsible for this content.
