Dehydrated Food Waste for Composting: An Overview

Abstract

Food waste disposal has recently received much attention worldwide due to its major impact on environmental pollution and economic costs. Using high moisture content of food waste has the highest negative environmental impact due to increased greenhouse gas emissions, odor, and leachate. Drying technologies play an important role in reducing the moisture content of food waste, which is necessary for environmental sustainability and safety. The first part of this review highlights that sun-drying is the most cost-effective drying method. However, it has not been widely recommended for food waste management due to several limitations, including the inability to control sunray temperature and the inability to control end-product quality. Thermal drying eliminates moisture from food waste quickly, preventing hydrolysis and biodegradation. Thermal dryers, such as the GAIA GC-300 dryer, and cabinet dryer fitted with a standard tray, are the best alternative to sun drying. The second part of this review highlights that dehydrated food waste products are slightly acidic (4.7–5.1), have a high electrical conductivity (EC) value (4.83–7.64 mS cm-1), with high nutrient content, due to low pH levels, dehydrated food waste is not suitable for direct use as a fertilizer for the plants. So, the dried food waste should be composted before application to the plants because the composting process will dominate the limitation of phytotoxins, anoxia, salinity, and water repellence. Trench compost can be a good choice for decomposing dried organic waste because trench compost relies solely on soil decomposing microorganisms and insects.

Valorization of Food Waste as Animal Feed: A Step towards Sustainable Food Waste Management and Circular Bioeconomy

“…Only high-value foods such as coffee, ingredients for ready-to-eat meals (fruits and vegetables or meat and fish), and aromatic herbs are typically freeze-dried in the food industry. The solid waste produced during lengthy human-crewed space trips has been extensively handled by the MEADOW processor freeze-drying solid waste [ 108 ]. The two main drying techniques investigated were freeze-drying and vacuum-drying.…”

Eco-Friendly Dehydrator Machine for Food Recycling: A Waste Management System

“…Food is wasted to a large extent in middle and high-income countries, both at the consumer and manufacturing levels. Food waste per capita is the most prominent in Europe and North America (95-115 kg/ year), while rock-bottom in Sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia (6-11 kg/year) [21]. More than 40% of food losses occur in developing countries after harvesting and preparing the produce [22].…”

“…The following are the most prominent posts in this field. For example, Khalida, et al [21] explained that thermal drying quickly removes moisture from food waste and prevents hydrolysis and biodegradation. Thermal dryers, such as the GAIA GC-300 dryer, and cabinet dryers with standard pans is the best alternative to sun drying.…”

Assessment of bacteria and fungi in food waste compost using hybrid dehydrated food waste associated with Effective Microorganisms (EM)

“…Traditional composting's disadvantage is that it takes a while to mature because the breakdown of organic material solely depends on microorganism presence in the system which is highly dependent on the environmental factors. The process can be sped up using a variety of techniques and technologies, including Takakura, Bokashi and dehydrated techniques [1]. Effective microorganisms (EM) are used in these methods as an expediting agent.…”

“…Composting confers numerous benefits, such as being replete with essential nutrients necessary for plant growth and harbouring microorganisms that facilitate the composting process [4]. The inclusion of wet food waste in the composting process has the potential to amplify the generation of leachate, consequently exerting an influence on microbial activity [1]. The desiccated food waste has been recognized for its capacity to enhance the levels of macro-nutrients, namely nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), as well as stimulate microbial activities, as documented by Xin et al, (2021) [5].…”