Ohio State University. Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics
Abstract
The following analysis is based upon the potential use of dry FGO byproduct as an agricultural lime substitute. In order to make this case study comparison, representative farms are developed in two regions of Ohio, and depict average agricultural liming practices for these regions. These geographic regions, northwest and northeast quadrants of the state, are expected to be representative of all farms in the specified region. Thus, represent the average farm operation in that region. These two geographic regions account for 60 percent of the agricultural lime usage in Ohio: 34 percent of Ohio agricultural lime is used in the northwestern region, and 26 percent in the northeastern region. These regions also represent extremes in market conditions for agricultural lime and the FGO by-product: in contrast to the northeast region, the northwest region tends to have higher soil pH, lower agricultural lime application rates, closer distances to limestone quarries, and farther distances to potential FGD sources. Given these characteristics, the northwest region would appear to present weaker market opportunities for the dry FGD by-product than would the northeastern region. This preliminary comparison of representative farms points to potential problems in marketing dry FGD by-products in agricultural markets. First, the potential market for dry FGD by-products in agriculture is limited since it is to serve as a substitute for agricultural lime. While agricultural lime is used widely, demand for the product is unlikely to grow dramatically in the future. Second, both agricultural lime and dry FGD by-product are bulky materials, and transportation is the most significant component of the total cost. Since total neutralizing power (TNP) of the dry FGO by-product is less than that of agricultural lime, use of the dry FGD by-product requires relatively more bulk or quantity to be hauled and spread. Third, dry FGD byproduct's use on agricultural land may be feasible on cropland near its source (electric power plants); however, it may not be economically competitive with agricultural lime on cropland more distant from potential source(s) this byproduct
