Evaluation of MSW organic fraction for composting: Separate collection or mechanical sorting

Marga López, Montserrat Soliva, F. Xavier Martínez-Farré, Mónica Fernández and Oscar Huerta-Pujol

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2010, vol. 54, issue 4, 222-228

Abstract: Organic fraction (OF) from municipal solid waste (MSW) was sampled from several Spanish composting facilities just before the composting process began, considering the two groups of OF treated at the current time: OF from source sorted collection (SC) and OF from non-source sorted collection but selected in the plant by mechanical devices (MS). Moisture content (MC), pH, electric conductivity (EC), total organic matter (TOM), resistant organic matter (ROM), organic nitrogen (org-N), resistant organic nitrogen (nh-N), and soluble inorganic nitrogen (NH4+-N) were analysed from both samples. These parameters are significant in the composting process and have environmental implications. Most of the Spanish composting facilities treat MS from the MSW collected in mass. This study was carried out to assess and underline the variation in the composition of OF depending on the sorting system. Significant differences were detected between the two groups. SC showed higher values for MC, TOM, org-N than MS which resulted in the highest pH and EC values. No differences were detected for ROM and nh-N, indicating a similar degradable potential. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that the composting process be carried out in a way that reflects the category of OF treated as well as considering the addition of yard trimmings to avoid leachates formation, balance the C/N ratio and improve aeration.

Keywords: Biowaste; C/N balance; Household waste; Biological treatment; Degradability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344909001748
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:54:y:2010:i:4:p:222-228

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2009.08.003

Access Statistics for this article

Resources, Conservation & Recycling is currently edited by Ming Xu

More articles in Resources, Conservation & Recycling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kai Meng ().