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N. Lakshminarasimaiah ¹, T. Meenambal ², Lakshmi Priya Thyagarajan ³, N. Ramesh ⁴

Affiliations
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur-635 109, T.N., IN
2 Department of Civil Engineering, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore-641 013, T.N., IN
3 Government College of Technology, Anna University, Coimbatore, T.N., IN
4 Department of Civil Engineering, K.S.R College of Technology, Tiruchengode, T.N., IN

Abstract

Solid waste can be disposed off either by diluting or by making it into useful manure. Since most of the land, water and atmosphere have been polluted largely, the only way to prevent pollution is to make the waste into a useful product. The present study investigates feasibility of blending the fruit waste (mango waste) with poultry waste and cow dung to produce a value added compost. Mango waste usually creates nuisance when compared to other fruit and vegetable waste as it gives foul smell. To achieve good composting mango waste was blended with poultry waste and cow dung at six different weight proportions. Chemical properties of compost like pH, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus and potassium were observed at different periods, i.e., on the days 1, 21 and 35. Finally, the carbon to nitrogen ratio was compared with all the five samples to identify the best compost. The samples with ratio 1:1:1 and 2:1:1 without mango seeds were considered to be more reliable and efficient to be used as compost.

Keywords

Composting, Mango Waste, Poultry Waste, Cow Dung, Aerobic Decomposition.

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Lakshmi Priya Thyagarajan ¹, T. Meenambal ¹, L. Mangaleshwaran ¹, N. Lakshminarasimaiah ², N. Ramesh ³

Affiliations
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering Div., Government College of Technology, Coimbatore-641 013, T.N., IN
2 Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur, T.N., IN
3 K. S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode, T.N., IN

Abstract

Studies were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of bioconversion of pulp and paper industry secondary treatment sludge with sawdust under aerobic conditions. The composting of the waste was carried out for a period of 90 days by mixing pulp and paper industry sludge (PS) with sawdust (SD) in the ratio of 3:1 and inoculating treatment 1 (T₁) with only cow dung whereas inoculating the treatment 2 (T₂) with cow dung and effective microorganisms (EM). The composting process showed satisfactory results with the cow dung and effective microorganism inoculum, i.e., Treatment 2 (T₂). The different chemical parameters like pH, EC, temperature and C:N ratio were analysed during the composting period. The C:N ratio showed a gradual decrease from 36.12 to 21.02 and 38.30 to 17.63 for T₁ and T₂ respectively on the 90th day of composting. The pH varied from 6.5 to 7.3 and from 6.8 to 7.6 in T₁ and T₂ respectively indicating a good compost quality. The EC values decreased gradually from 2.3 μmhos/cm and reached the value 1.2 μmhos/cm in both the treatments. The nutrient values like NPK were almost equal in both the treatments i.e. Though the nutrients levels were equal, the Treatment 2 (T₂) reached the compost stability at the 90th day whereas the Treatment 1 has not reached the stability or maturity at the 90th day, which is indicated by the C:N ratio. Therefore, it can be concluded that the pulp and paper industry sludge (PS) can be successfully converted into value added compost in the period of 90 days by cocomposting with sawdust (SD) in the ratio of 3:1 and by mixing with cowdung (CD) + effective microorganisms (EM) as inoculum.

Keywords

Waste Management, Co-Composting, C:N Ratio, Bio-Compost, Recycling.

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