Patent ID: 7540916

Claim:
A method of conditioning soil for land reclamation in populated regions with biosolids in a manner ameliorating off-gassing of noxious odors, comprising the steps of: obtaining particulate fly ash produced as a reaction by-product of fluidized-bed combustion of anthracite coal in the presence of pulverized limestone, the particulate fly ash having a moisture content of less than about 5% and a pH within a range of about 10.6 to 10.8; obtaining biosolids having a solids content of about 25% to 30% by weight and a moisture content of about 70% to 75% by weight; preparing a soil amendment composition consisting essentially of about 80 to about 85 percent by weight of said biosolids and about 15 to about 20 percent by weight of said particulate fly ash; pre-mixing said soil amendment composition in a front end loader; after said pre-mixing step, loading said soil amendment composition in a spreader; further mixing and uniformly spreading said soil amendment composition with said spreader on a surface of land unable to support vegetation by centrifugally discharging said soil amendment composition from said spreader to a depth of less than about 2 inches but greater than about 1.5 inches on the land; and after said discharging step, further mixing said soil amendment composition by tilling said soil amendment composition into the pre-existing soil of the land to a depth of at least about 6 inches; whereby said method provides beneficial use of biosolids and fly ash waste products in an ecologically-friendly manner that limits the discharge of noxious odors into the atmosphere enabling land reclamation in populated regions.