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Contact: Dr. Robert Ficklin, School of Forest Resources, UA-Monticello, 870-460-1052.
ficklin@uamont.edu.
By Howell Medders, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas System, 479-575-5647,
hmedders@uark.edu
UA scientist develops synthetic 'soil' for research
MONTICELLO, Ark. -- Necessity was the mother of invention for Assistant Professor
Robert Ficklin, a soil scientist and ecophysiologist with the Arkansas Forest Resources
Center, which is a unit of the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture
and UA-Monticello's School of Forest Resources.
Ficklin's need was for special soil used to calibrate equipment to assure accurate analysis
for carbon and nitrogen in soil samples. Because of worldwide interest in research on
carbon sequestration and related issues, soil that has been certified to have specific values
for carbon and nitrogen for equipment calibration has become scarce and expensive.
The solution for Ficklin and a colleague, Russell Dresbach of the Missouri Soil
Characterization Laboratory in Columbia, was to make their own. Ficklin’s graduate
student, Joshua Richardson, also contributed.
They call it "synthetic soil," but, Ficklin said, "that's not a good name because it is
nothing like soil."
It is a white powder that reacts during combustion analysis in a manner very similar to
the hard-to-get soil that is normally used to calibrate analyzers, Ficklin said. Blind tests
by soil scientists in other laboratories on a variety of analyzers confirmed that the
material works great for its intended purpose.
Richard Kluender, director of the Arkansas Forest Resources Center, said, "When you
consider the importance of current research in this area, which involves global warming
and development of alternative energy sources, this is a very significant contribution."
Ficklin and Dresbach published the formula for their compound and the test results in the
journal "American Laboratory,"
(http://www.internationalbiotechnologylaboratory.com/articles/aln/n0906fic.pdf). Now a
number of laboratories around the country are using it.
"I'm looking at changes in soil carbon and nitrogen under different management
practices," Ficklin said about the research he is conducting. The scenarios he is studying
include removal of all plant material to supply feedstock for biofuel production.
Pilot plants are in operation around the country to evaluate the economic feasibility of
refining ethanol and other energy products from woody biomass. Arkansas forest
products companies are well positioned to adopt this technology using waste limbs and
stems from timber harvests, fast-growing trees or other dedicated "energy crops."
Removing all limbs and stems from harvested areas could impact future soil chemistry
and structure in ways that adversely affect sustainable productivity and environmental
quality, so it is important to conduct research to identify how much material can be
removed in a responsible and sustainable manner, Ficklin said.
Ficklin's research requires analysis of many soil and plant samples for carbon and
nitrogen content. The shortage and high cost of special calibration soil was hindering his
work, until he and Dresbach invented their synthetic soil for that purpose.
- 30 CUTLINE:
Synthetic Soil. Robert Ficklin, in his Forest Resources Center laboratory, shows a
sample of material that he and a colleague developed for calibrating carbon and nitrogen
analyzers. The "synthetic soil" can be used instead of scarce and expensive real soil with
known carbon and nitrogen levels.