Effect of liming of sod-podzolic soils with by-products of steel production on soil acidity and composition of wash water (column experiments)

The waste slag materials from metallurgical plants contain calcareous materials, such as blast furnace(BFS) and converter slags (CS) of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant. However, the widespread use ofthese materials is limited by the presence of harmful impurities in their composition that can have anegative effect on soils and plants. The aim of our research is to study the effect of liming of soddypodzolic soils with metallurgical slags on the pHKCl value and the composition of the wash water. In amodel experiment on columns, the migration ability of alkali metals from soils of light granulometriccomposition was studied after using two phases of steelmaking waste as a lime material. Research resultsindicate that the ameliorative properties of BFS and converter slags were different. When liming withBFS slag, a month after composting, the pHKCl value increased to 5.1 units. Studied soil from the categoryof “strongly acidic” moved to the category of “weakly acidic”. When liming with the converter slag, thepHKCl value of the soil increased from 4.1 to 4.7 (the soil from the “strongly acidic” category moved tothe “medium acidic” category). With an increase in the period of washing, the pH of the infiltration waterincreases. In the treatments with the use of BFS slag this increase was higher due to the continuingdissolution of ameliorants and the higher chemical activity of BFS slag. The liming led to intensivemigration of alkaline earth metals. In the treatments limed with more soluble (chemically active) BFSslag, calcium losses were higher. Empirical estimation of alkaline earth metals leaching from the soilallowed to model the dynamics of the base migration. The dynamics of Ca and Mg migration from thesoil were fundamentally different (content of Ca decreased, and of Mg increased). The dynamics of Camigration from the soil limed with converter slag was most pronounced in comparison with the Cadynamics for BFS slag and the Mg dynamics in all treatments.