Increasing Invessel Efficiency At A Commercial Biosolids Composting Facility

Throughput at commercial composting facilities greatly impact operational costs and the overall success of the operation. Throughput is defined as the total amount of input material that is processed (treated) to a predetermined level of maturity. Increasing throughput involves accelerating the process of degradation thus reducing the total time required to reach the specified maturity level. Numerous factors affect the process of degradation. Some of these are the material’s moisture content. initial C:N ratio, porosity, operating temperature, pH and operational factors such as aeration system and frequency of agitation of the bed of compost. Optimal conditions for composting have been studied and defined in the literature for different types of cumposting systems and compostable materials (Haug. 1993).