Food waste digestate composting: Feedstock optimization with sawdust and mature compost

Bing Song; M. K. Manu; Dongyi Li; Chen Wang; Sunita Varjani; Narsi Ladumor; Lui Michael; Yunjie Xu; Jonathan W. C. Wong

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125759

Food waste digestate composting: Feedstock optimization with sawdust and mature compost

Bing Song, M. K. Manu, Dongyi Li, Chen Wang, Sunita Varjani, Narsi Ladumor, Lui Michael, Yunjie Xu, Jonathan W. C. Wong^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

89 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Direct land application of food waste digestate (FWD) leads to 60–70% of nitrogen loss through NH₃ volatilization due to its innate characteristics like high ammonium nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N) (~6000 mg/kg dry matter) and high moisture content (~75%). Hence, bio stabilization of FWD through composting is a promising solution to curb the environmental and occupational hazards. Hence the aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of using sawdust and/or mature compost as a bulking agent to achieve effective composting. The results showed that mixing of FWD with sawdust alone or together with mature compost could produce quality compost with reduced NH₄⁺-N (<700 mg/kg dry matter) and increased seed germination index (>80%) within 2 weeks of co-composting. Composting FWD with both sawdust and mature compost effectively reduced ~ 83% of NH₃ volatilization demonstrating that this approach can effectively produce mature nitrogen enriched FWD compost.

Original language	English
Article number	125759
Journal	Bioresource Technology
Volume	341
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125759
Publication status	Published - Dec 2021

Scopus Subject Areas

Bioengineering
Environmental Engineering
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Waste Management and Disposal

User-Defined Keywords

Ammonium nitrogen
Compost quality
Composting
Food waste digestate
NH3 volatilization

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125759

Cite this

@article{3548f12664f54720a5c5fe4a434ee4a7,

title = "Food waste digestate composting: Feedstock optimization with sawdust and mature compost",

abstract = "Direct land application of food waste digestate (FWD) leads to 60–70% of nitrogen loss through NH3 volatilization due to its innate characteristics like high ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) (~6000 mg/kg dry matter) and high moisture content (~75%). Hence, bio stabilization of FWD through composting is a promising solution to curb the environmental and occupational hazards. Hence the aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of using sawdust and/or mature compost as a bulking agent to achieve effective composting. The results showed that mixing of FWD with sawdust alone or together with mature compost could produce quality compost with reduced NH4+-N (<700 mg/kg dry matter) and increased seed germination index (>80%) within 2 weeks of co-composting. Composting FWD with both sawdust and mature compost effectively reduced ~ 83% of NH3 volatilization demonstrating that this approach can effectively produce mature nitrogen enriched FWD compost.",

keywords = "Ammonium nitrogen, Compost quality, Composting, Food waste digestate, NH3 volatilization",

author = "Bing Song and Manu, {M. K.} and Dongyi Li and Chen Wang and Sunita Varjani and Narsi Ladumor and Lui Michael and Yunjie Xu and Wong, {Jonathan W. C.}",

note = "Funding Information: The financial support from the OSCAR Bioenergy Joint Venture, Hong Kong is greatly acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier Ltd.",

year = "2021",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125759",

language = "English",

volume = "341",

journal = "Bioresource Technology",

issn = "0960-8524",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Food waste digestate composting

T2 - Feedstock optimization with sawdust and mature compost

AU - Song, Bing

AU - Manu, M. K.

AU - Li, Dongyi

AU - Wang, Chen

AU - Varjani, Sunita

AU - Ladumor, Narsi

AU - Michael, Lui

AU - Xu, Yunjie

AU - Wong, Jonathan W. C.

PY - 2021/12

Y1 - 2021/12

N2 - Direct land application of food waste digestate (FWD) leads to 60–70% of nitrogen loss through NH3 volatilization due to its innate characteristics like high ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) (~6000 mg/kg dry matter) and high moisture content (~75%). Hence, bio stabilization of FWD through composting is a promising solution to curb the environmental and occupational hazards. Hence the aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of using sawdust and/or mature compost as a bulking agent to achieve effective composting. The results showed that mixing of FWD with sawdust alone or together with mature compost could produce quality compost with reduced NH4+-N (<700 mg/kg dry matter) and increased seed germination index (>80%) within 2 weeks of co-composting. Composting FWD with both sawdust and mature compost effectively reduced ~ 83% of NH3 volatilization demonstrating that this approach can effectively produce mature nitrogen enriched FWD compost.

AB - Direct land application of food waste digestate (FWD) leads to 60–70% of nitrogen loss through NH3 volatilization due to its innate characteristics like high ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) (~6000 mg/kg dry matter) and high moisture content (~75%). Hence, bio stabilization of FWD through composting is a promising solution to curb the environmental and occupational hazards. Hence the aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of using sawdust and/or mature compost as a bulking agent to achieve effective composting. The results showed that mixing of FWD with sawdust alone or together with mature compost could produce quality compost with reduced NH4+-N (<700 mg/kg dry matter) and increased seed germination index (>80%) within 2 weeks of co-composting. Composting FWD with both sawdust and mature compost effectively reduced ~ 83% of NH3 volatilization demonstrating that this approach can effectively produce mature nitrogen enriched FWD compost.

KW - Ammonium nitrogen

KW - Compost quality

KW - Composting

KW - Food waste digestate

KW - NH3 volatilization

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U2 - 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125759

DO - 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125759

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34461407

AN - SCOPUS:85113491886

SN - 0960-8524

VL - 341

JO - Bioresource Technology

JF - Bioresource Technology

M1 - 125759

ER -

Food waste digestate composting: Feedstock optimization with sawdust and mature compost

Abstract

Scopus Subject Areas

User-Defined Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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