'The United States obtains approximately 2.7 quads of energy per year from biomass while producing 1.5-3.0 million tons of ash. In the future, energy from biomass should increase to 4 quads, and perhaps it will go as high as 10-20 quads (1). Most of this energy comes from paper mills, saw mills, and electrical generating plants that burn large quantities of wood residues to produce steam and electricity. The ash residue, generated at rates of 1-100 tons/day/site, is becoming a significant disposal problem as environmental regulations become more stringent and landfill sites become less available and more expensive. To date, the extent of the ash generation and disposal problem has not been fully recognized since biomass is viewed as a clean-burning, environmentally benign fuel.