In the process of determining the content of impurities, including fossil fuels, crude oil, coke, pitch, plastics, glass, slag, rust, metals, and rock dust, in charcoal and wood briquettes via microscopic examination, the question of the use of ashes from the combustion of grill fuels (taking the scale of the new national sport into account, commonly referred to as „weekend grilling”) was raised. Another reason for addressing this issue was the question regarding the use of organic additives to acidified soil (mineral) fertilizers submitted by one of the clients of the bituminous coal and reservoir rocks analysis laboratory. In addition, the manufacturer of gardening soil has also expressed an interest in an unconventional deacidifying agent; the introduction of a new product with a unique ingredient is considered as a chance to stand out from the competition. A review of the literature shows that attempts to use ashes obtained from the biomass combustion in power boilers have been made. However, due to the biomass composition and additives and pollutants used in biomass for energy purposes, the production of such mixtures has been dropped. Based on the data from numerous samples of grill fuel, which meet the requirements regarding the content of impurities set out in the PN-EN 1860-2 standard, the question of the possible use of ash obtained from charcoal and wood briquette grilling as a component for use in the production of acidified soil (mineral) fertilizers was discussed. The article will present the amount of material obtained based on the statistical sales of barbecue fuels based on the experimentally calculated ash mass resulting from the combustion of 1 kg of starting material. In addition, a logistic proposal for obtaining ash from individual grill users will be developed. On the day of the submission of the present work, the results of the chemical analysis of charcoal and wood briquettes subjected to the gasification process have not yet been obtained. However, based on the microscopic analysis, it can be concluded that the content of impurities in the examined samples is highly unlikely to prevent the use of the mentioned ashes in agriculture.

The aim of the study was to assess the degree of soil contamination by PAHs in the area of charcoal kiln basis, located in the East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. The concentrations of PAH in soil samples derived from various sampling locations pointed to a strong or a very strong contamination of the ecosystem by these compounds (8,95 μgxg·'-283,53 ugxg'). PAH concentrations in the soil differed significantly between the sampling locations. Analysis of samples from different soil layers (to 30 cm) pointed to a threat of washing out into groundwater. The highest concentrations of PAH corresponded to soil samples collected near kilns (distance of 1.5 m), and were in the range of 17.81 ugxg' - 435.54 ugxg'. PAH content in soil gradually decreased with increasing distance from the kilns to values < I μgxg-'. The analysis of the data from three sampling periods (June-August) pointed to higher concentrations of PAHs in soil collected in the middle of the burning season, what was probably due to their more intense emission and a relatively small amount of precipitation.

This study was carried out for the estimation of polyphenols (TP) and induction of oxidative enzymes polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) in sunflower plants through seed immersion in agrochemicals of salicylic acid (SA) and water soluble chitosan (CH) in addition to a conidial suspension of Trichoderma harzianum and then analysis of plant content of carbohydrates and protein. The highest level of PPO 253.3 U ꞏ min ^–1 was detected in 50 ppm SA for 6 h. Next was T. harzianum when catalyzed PPO with 193.67 U ꞏ min ^–1. Peroxidase was substantially catalyzed in accordance with the increment of inducers. Sunflower roots induced TP with up to 4.88 mg ꞏ g ^–1 in plants treated with SA at 50 ppm for 6 h and then declined with an increasing SA dose. The total carbohydrate content in leaves of 320 mg ꞏ 100 g ^–1 was found in treatments of CH at 50 ppm for 6 h. In roots, a carbohydrate content of 500 mg ꞏ 100 g ^–1 was observed using CH 75 ppm for 6 h. Trichoderma harzianum remarkably increased proteins in leaves and roots by up to 25% compared to 16.9% in the control. These results suggest that inducing the plants’ own defense mechanism by applying salicylic acid and chitosan and bio-control of T. harzianum may offer alternative methods for controlling charcoal rot of sunflower due to the creation of defensive enzymes and could support plant vigor by enhancement of its protein and carbohydrate content.

Microporous carbon molecular sieves of extremely narrow pore size distribution were obtained by carbonization of a novel raw material (Salix viminalis). The precursor is inexpensive and widely accessible. The pore capacity and specific surface area are upgradable by H3PO4 treatment without significant change of narrowed PSD. The dominating pore size indicates that these molecular sieves are a potential competitor to other nanoporous materials such as opened and purified carbon nanotubes.