Closing the Cycle with Wood Ash: Nutrient Utilization in Alpine Forests

The project AshTreaT provides a holistic view of this issue by involving research institutes, companies and governmental institutions from Tiroland Vorarlberg (Austria), in order to find a sustainable approach for the use of wood ash as soilnutrient supplement in alpine mountain regions. The main objectives of the present study were to develop an ash-based-product, produced in aneconomically and practically feasible process, as well as to find appropriate spreading techniques of ashes into forests. Furthermore, an integral analysis was performed, in which the authors considered the product development, logistics, choice of the location for future ash-pellet production,
together with the present costs of the wood-ash disposal.