The President of SACAA, Prof Richard Kruger along with Prof Charlie Reinhardt from the Department of Plant Production and Soil Science, University of Pretoria, welcomed workshop dignitaries. “The resolution of South Africa’s current energy crisis will require additional capacity. Despite the noble intentions of proponents, renewable energy sources and nuclear, the energy demand will, as Eskom has already indicated, be met by Fossil Fuel,” declares Prof Kruger, President of the SACAA founded in 1987 and has since played an imperative role in ascertaining an ash industry in South Africa by laying a platform for the exchange of scientific and technical information.

The SACAA’s website defines coal ash (of which one of the main components is fly ash) as a by-product of electricity generation in coal-fired power stations.  “I believe we can turn to coal ash to assist in the meeting of this challenge. Coal has botanical origins. We have mined it, extracted the energy and have been left with the mineral matter. Let us return this to the soil from hence it came. Fortunately we have young and eager researchers to explore the opportunities and come up with solutions,” continues Prof Kruger. Two big organizations that produce coal ash and who assist with the funding of several research projects, attended the workshop. Ms Kelley Reynolds, a representative from Eskom rendered a refreshing word on Eskom’s Environmental Programme. Mr. Corne Pretorius utilized the interactive platform to render a dynamic talk on Sasol’s Ash Environmental Programme.

The workshop’s main organizer, Dr Wayne Truter from the Department of Plant Production and Soil Science at the University of Pretoria presented an interactive talk on the “Progress in the utilization of coal ash in agriculture and the mining environment.” According to Dr Truter South Africa has become one of the leading countries in terms of research in using coal ash in agriculture and the environment. Dr Truter’s research team has been involved in coal ash research for the past 13 years, and has made a few significant breakthroughs in understanding the dynamics of coal ash when being used to counteract other environmental issues, such as the reclamation of acidic and infertile soils and substrates in which plants are grown for a particular purpose.

“Coal ash has many beneficial properties that can be used to reclaim these degraded soil environments and ultimately ensure sustainable plant growth,” says Dr Truter. The growing science of coal ash in agriculture and the environment has just started, and Dr Truter believes we still have much to learn.  Only with the collaboration of other research teams, such as the University of Western Cape, University of Stellenbosch and University of Kwazulu Natal that had also attended and presented at the workshop, will we be able to get a quicker understanding of the role which coal ash can play in agriculture and the environment.

Dr Truter asserts that the objective of the workshop had definitely been achieved, and that was to highlight the research progress made in this field, and the new challenges and opportunities that exist. In addition to this, it was a refreshing workshop due to the good interaction between academic research institutions, consultants and the major industrial stakeholders such as Eskom and Sasol.