Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) sawdust is an important source of carbon and is therefore in demand as an amendment in commercial municipal solid waste (MSW) composting operations. However, MDF contains formaldehyde which causes two concerns. The first one is that the bactericidal and fungicidal properties of formaldehyde may adversely affect the composting process. The second one is that forma...

The composting process is a proven method of stabilizing organically-based substrates into high quality organic matter sources which are suitable for horticultural, turf and agricultural applications. Composting has also become a popular waste treatment process, used by many nations around the world, to transform society’s by-products into valuable products that can actually benefit society. As...

Introduction Composting is a process in which microorganisms rapidly consume organic matter, using it as an energy source and converting it into carbon dioxide, water, microbial biomass, heat and compost. Feedstock used to fuel the composting process may originate from a number of different sources, including yard trimmings, manure, biosolids, and agricultural residues. These materials may cont...

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Minnesota Pork Producers Association for the financial support of this project, and the technical help of Doug Williams rendering, composting, fermentation, disposal pits, and refeeding to other animals such as mink.1,2 Currently, the only disposal methods available to producers in Minnesota without special approval from the Board of Animal Health are buri...

A novel and efficient organic waste management strategy currently gaining great attention is fly larvae composting. High resource recovery efficiency can be achieved in this closed-looped system, but pharmaceuticals and pesticides in waste could potentially accumulate in every loop of the treatment system and spread to the environment. This study evaluated the fate of three pharmaceuticals (car...

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIRS) have been used for quantitative and/or qualitative analysis of a wide range of materials. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of MIRS and NIRS for following the degradation of bio-based food utensils during composting. Polylactide (PLA)-based forks lost 34% of their initial mass and were reduced to s...

In the study, the variations of heavy metal distributions (of Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn) during the sewage sludge composting process were investigated by sequential extraction procedures. The total content of Cu and Zn in the composted mixture increased after the composting process. Mn and Zn were mainly found in mobile fractions (exchangeable fraction (F1), carbonate fraction (F2), and Fe/Mn oxide fr...

We propose using the surface of pine trees needles to biomonitor the bioaerosol emissions at a composting plant. Measurements were based on 16S rRNA gene copy numbers of Saccharopolyspora rectivirgula, a bioindicator of composting plant emissions. A sampling plan was established based on 29 samples around the emission source. The abundance of 16S rRNA gene copies of S. rectivirgula per gram of ...

In this study, co-composting of food waste and green waste at low initial carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratios was investigated using an in-vessel lab-scale composting reactor. The central composite design (CCD) and response surface method (RSM) were applied to obtain the optimal operating conditions over a range of preselected moisture contents (45-75%) and C/N ratios (13.9-19.6). The results indic...

The studies were carried out on heavy metal bioavailability and leachability during water hyacinth composting mixed with cattle manure, sawdust and natural zeolite. The water hyacinth, cattle manure and sawdust were taken in the 6:3:1 ratio with 5, 10 and 15% natural zeolite and composted for 30 days. The concentrations of nutrients and total heavy metals were increased during the process. Due ...