In view of the permanent increase of the municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) residues amount,

the numerous attempts to find a way of their recovery have been undertaken. In this paper the idea of the

recovery of the MSWI residues in Kłodawa salt mine is presented. The idea is to fill the waste in underground

workings, close and/or backfill the underground excavations with self-solidifying mixture prepared

on the basis of MSWI grained solid residues. Two techniques are proposed: 1) hydraulic backfill technique

(HBT) where the mixture is prepared in the surface installation and pumped down into the underground

workings through shaft and the pipelines and 2) dry waste technique (DWT), where dry grained waste is

dropped into the mine by pneumatic pipeline transport, then supplied to the underground mixture-preparing-

installation and pumped as a thin liquid or paste into the selected workings. The description of the

technology is preceded by general characteristic of the hardening backfill in underground mines and by

characteristic of MSWI residues, drafted on the basis of the literature review.

Based on laboratory tests of selected properties of secondary waste (ashes and dusts) from municipal waste incineration plants, the possibility of recovering some properties of waste in the process of filling the post-mining voids in the salt mine was assessed. The furnace bottom ash and the waste from the flue gas treatment from one of the national incineration plants were examined. The grain curves of dry waste and the density of the prepared mixtures were characterized. Twelve variants of the compositions of ash-based mixtures with varying proportions of the individual components were considered, taking into account both fresh water and brine. For each variant of the composition, the amount of redundant liquid appeared as well as the time of solidifying of the mixture to a certain strength and the compressibility values obtained. Considering the possibility of transporting mixtures in mines by means of pipelines at relatively long distances, and allowing the filling of large salt chambers to be filled and evenly filled, flow parameters were determined. In addition, the permeability of solidified waste samples was investigated, showing the potential for reducing the strength of the waste mass due to the action of water or brine. The technical feasibility of eliminating redundant liquid in the binding process has been confirmed, which is particularly important in salt mines. Preliminary values for the amount of binder (5%÷10%) to be added to the mixtures to obtain the specified strength properties of the artificially formed mass at Rc = 0.5 MPa. Attention was paid to the important practical aspect resulting from the rapid increase of this type of waste in the comming years in Poland and at the same time vast potential for their use in salt mining, where we have a huge capacity of salt chambers available.

This paper presents the results of a fi eld study on using mineral materials (fine-grained sand and medium-grained gravel) to reduce the concentration of readily soluble salts in a roadside environment. The investigated soils were Rendzic Sceletic Leptosols from an urban area characterized by a shallow humus horizon with a high content of skeletal parts, as well as a lack of homogeneity of the material in the soil profile. All soil samples were taken from five plots located along the main streets in the city of Opole (Southern Poland). It was revealed that the use of fine-grained sand and medium-grained gravel improved the structure of the surface soil layer, and thus favoured the migration of Na+ and Cl- ions into the soil profile. In comparison to control surfaces readily soluble salts were reduced with gravel and sand application. Furthermore, the mineral materials introduced on the soil surface for salinity neutralization did not affect the quality of the tested roadside calcareous soils. The results indicate that the use of mineral materials reduces soil salinity caused by NaCl. They also show the need to find new methods of salt neutralization, especially of roadside soils in order to improve and protect the quality of the environment.

This work presents an innovative shaft-lining solution which, in accordance with a patent of the Republic of Poland, allows successive, periodic leaching of excess rock salt migrating to the shaft opening. As is commonly known, all workings in rock salt strata are exposed to an increased convergence of sidewalls, making it very difficult to use shafts properly. Rocks migrating towards the shaft opening cause very high stress on the shaft liner. As a result, if the lining does not show substantial deformability, it fails. Lining failure due to insufficient deformability has been extensively described in the literature. Also, throughout the history of mining construction, a number of solutions have been proposed for different types of lining-deformability enhancement. For instance, the KGHM mining corporation applied a deformable steel lining – a solution used in the mining construction of galleries – along a 155-m-long section of the SW-4 shaft with diameters of 7,5 m that passes through a rock salt strata. At KGHM, the SW-4 shaft passes through a rock salt strata along a section of 155 m, in which a deformable enclosed steel lining was made. After several years, the convergence of shaft sidewalls stabilised at a rate of 0.5 mm/day. This enormous activity of the rock mass made it necessary to reconstruct the entire shaft section after only four years. According to further predictions, it will be necessary to reconstruct this section at least four times by 2045. This paper discusses in short form the underlying weaknesses of the technology in question.

As a solution to the problems mentioned above, the authors of this work present a very simple design of a shaft lining, called the tubing-aggregate lining, which utilises the leachability of salt rock massifs. The essential part of the lining is a layer of coarse aggregate set between the salt rock sidewall and the inner column of the tubing lining. One the one hand, coarse aggregate supports the salt rock sidewall and is highly deformable due to its compressibility, but on the other hand it allows water or low saturated brine to migrate and dissolve salt rock sidewalls.

This paper presents the first stage of works on this subject. Patent No. PL 223831 B had been granted before these works commenced.

Salt caverns are used for over 70 years to store power sources and dispose of industrial wastes. The design of cavern shape and dimensions is still considered as a difficult engineering problem despite progress in geotechnical, construction and exploration methods. The rational design of cavern depends on mechanical parameters of rock salt and nonsalt rocks, stability conditions, safety requirements and stored material. However, most of these factors are related to geological factors like depth of cavern location, the geological structure of salt deposit, lithology of interlayers, petrology and mineralogy of rock salt and interlayers. The significant diversity in the geological conditions of different rock salt deposits contributed to the variety in shape and dimensions of salt caverns worldwide.

In this paper, the examples of caverns developed in various salt deposits are presented. The shape of these caverns and its relation to geological features is presented. The influence of geological factors on the formation of irregularities in a cavern shape is described. Moreover, the evaluation of storage caverns located in Polish salt deposits in a view of the aforementioned geological factors is performed. The information and analysis described in this paper provide input which can be useful in future plans connected with the development of underground storage in Poland.

This article deals with a group of Polish surnames motivated by lexis from the field of salt mining. The analysed surnames are excerpted from “Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych”, edited by Kazimierz Rymut, as well as from other onomastic compilations. These anthroponyms vary in terms of their origins and linguistic construction. We can distinguish from among these anthroponyms: 1) surnames motivated by impersonal nouns: solanka, solnica, sól, tołpa, żupa; 2) surnames motivated by adjectives: słony, solny; 3) surnames motivated by personal nouns: prasoł, solarz, solnik, warzyc, warzysz, żupnik. The description of particular ‛salt’ surnames, apart from their frequency, includes their geographical distribution, which only in some cases is connected with the location of old salt mines, found mainly in the Lesser Poland (Małopolska).

Mine drainage and discharge of salt waters into water bodies belong to main environmental issues, which must be appropriately addressed by the underground coal mining industry. The large area of exploited and abandoned mine fields in the Upper Silesia Coal Basin, as well as the geological structure of the rock mass and its hydrogeological conditions require the draining and discharge of about 119 million m3/yr of mine waters. Increasing the depth of mining and the necessity of protection of mines against water hazard result in increased amounts of chlorides and sulphates in the mine waters, even by decreasing the total coal output and the number of mines. The majority of the salts are being discharged directly into rivers, partly under control of salt concentration, however from the point of the view of environment protection, the most favorable way of their utilization would be technologies allowing the bulk use of saline waters. Filling of underground voids represents a group of such methods, from which the filling of goaves (cavings) is the most effective. Due to large volume of voids resulting from the extraction of coal and taking the numerous limitations of this method into account, the potential capacity for filling reaches about 17.7 million m3/yr of cavings and unnecessary workings. Considering the limited availability of fly ash, which is the main component of slurries being in use for the filling of voids, the total volume of saline water and brines, which could be utilized, has been assessed as 3,5–6,5 million m3/yr

Globally more than 5.2 billion hectares of farming fields are damaged through erosion, salinity and soil deterioration. Many salt stress tolerant bacteria have plant growth promoting (PGP) characteristics that can be used to overcome environmental stresses. Isolation and screening of salt-tolerant endophytes from Salicornia brachiata were achieved through surface sterilization of leaves followed by cultivation on 4% NaCl amended media. Performance of isolates towards indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production, phosphate solubilization, ACC deaminase activity, ammonia production, siderophore production and stress tolerance were determined. On the basis of the highest plant growth promoting activity, SbCT4 and SbCT7 isolates were tested for plant growth promotion with wheat and maize crops. In the present study, a total of 12 morphologically distinct salt-tolerant endophytic bacteria was cultured. Out of 12 isolates, 42% of salt-tolerant endophytes showed phosphate solubilization, 67% IAA production, 33% ACC-deaminase activity, 92% siderophore production, 41.6% ammonia production and 66% HCN production. A dendrogram, generated on the basis of stress tolerance, showed two clusters, each including five isolates. The bacterial isolates SbCT4 and SbCT7 showed the highest stress tolerance, and stood separately as an independent branch. Bacterial isolates increased wheat shoot and root dry weights by 60–82% and 50–100%, respectively. Similarly, improved results were obtained with maize shoot (27–150%) and root (80–126%) dry weights. For the first time from this plant the bacterial isolates were identified as Paenibacillus polymyxa SbCT4 and Bacillus subtilis SbCT7 based on phenotypic features and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Paenibacillus polymyxa SbCT4 and B. subtilis SbCT7 significantly improved plant growth compared to non-inoculated trials.

The Szamotuły Graben covers the southernmost part of the Permo-Mesozoic Poznań–Szamotuły Fault Zone. Along this regional discontinuity there are several salt structures, including the Szamotuły diapir, over which an extensional graben formed in the Paleogene and Neogene. The graben is located north of Poznań in central- western Poland, and is NW–SE-trending, ~20 km long, 3–5.5 km wide, and up to 160 m deep. It is filled with Lower Oligocene and Neogene sediments, including relatively thick lignite seams. Data from boreholes allow the assignment of the graben-fill sediments to appropriate lithostratigraphic units. Furthermore, analysis of changes in the thickness of these units provides evidence for periods of accelerated graben subsidence or uplift relative to its flanks. As a result, two distinct stages of tectonic subsidence and one inversion in the Paleogene–Neogene evolution of the Szamotuły Graben have been distinguished. Thus, relatively significant subsidence occurred in the Early Oligocene and the middle Early–earliest Mid-Miocene, while slight inversion took place in the middle part of the Mid-Miocene.

CaO sorbent dissolved in chloride molten salts was investigated to identify its CO2 capture property. Various molten salt systems with different melting points (CaCl2, LiCl, LiCl-CaCl2, and LiCl-KCl) were used to control the operation temperature from 450 to 850ºC in order to determine the effect of the operation temperature on the chemical reaction between CaO and CO2. The CaO sorbent showed the best performance at 550ºC in the LiCl-CaCl2 molten salt (conversion ratio of 85.25%). This temperature is lower than typical operation temperature of the solid-state CaO sorbent (~700ºC).

Dehydroabietic acid R=COOH (DHA), a naturally occuring diterpene resin acid, is an activator of systemic acquired resistance (SAR) under biotic stress. However, there had been no report on its functioning under salinity. In the present study, we determined the effects of DHA on salinity and its possible role as a signal transmitter in soybean (Glycine max L.) leaves under salinity (200 mM NaCl). Furthermore, physiological parameters, chlorophyll, proline, malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content, superoxide (O2‾) and hydroxyl radical (•OH) scavenge capacity, as well as antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POX, APX and GST) and GmWRKY-71 gene expressions were investigated in the treated plants at 6 h, 12 h and 24 h. The obtained results showed that pretreatment of DHA caused (1) a reduction in salt-induced damage, (2) improvement in biomass yield, water status, chlorophyll and leaf area, (3) regulation of the proline level and relative electrolyte leakage, (4) increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging capacity, (5) induction of SOD and APX enzyme activity at all the investigated periods, while POX only at 6 h, and thus alleviation of the oxidative damage. In addition, the changes in GmWRKY-71 gene expressions were remarkable in soybean under salinity. To sum up, these results showed that DHA can be used as a ROS inhibitor or a signal molecule in increasing salt tolerance in soybean under salinity.