Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

Mohamad Noufal ¹, Bai Liu Zhan ¹, Zena Maalla ¹

Affiliations
1 Chongqing University, Chongqing City, CN

Abstract

Low-level microbial activity due to the production of organic acids is a recognized problem during the initial phase of food waste composting. In this study, sodium acetate (NaOAc) was introduced as an amendment to an in-vessel composting system. Sodium acetate was added when the pH of the compost mixture reached a low level (pH < 5), the addition increased pH to 5.8. This had a positive impact on the degradation of organic materials and the formation of methane gas compared to the results without (NaOAc) addition. This also proved that the anaerobic-aerobic in-vessel composting could reduce the large amounts of waste by 33%-30%. However, the addition of NaOAc had no significant influence on the temperature profile, bulk density, electrical conductivity, moisture content, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (NPK) and heavy metals during the composting process. To assess the performance of the composting process, two small-scale digesters were used with fixed temperature. Maximum methane content of 68±1% and 75±1% by volume of the generated biogas was achieved in the run without and with NaOAc respectively. The germination index was 84.8% which proved that the stabilized compost obtained in this research is the “mature” kind and satisfactory for agricultural use.

Keywords

Compost, Sodium Acetate, Biogas, Mature Compost, Germination Test, Solid Waste Management.

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