Evolution of chemical and biological characterization during agitated pile composting of flower waste

Abstract

Purpose Flower waste dumping in landfills and other disposal sites is causing major environmental issues due to its highly biodegradable nature. Instead, flower waste can be successfully composted for its higher nutrient value. Therefore, this study evaluated the pile composting of flower waste with different combinations of cow dung and saw dust to produce stabilized compost. Methods Five agitated piles of flower waste mixture were formed in trapezoidal shape to perform the composting. Pile (P 0 ) was a control experiment, which contained 100 kg flower waste. The quantity of flower waste mixture with cow dung and saw dust in the other Piles was a total of 100 kg i.e. P 1 (50:40:10) kg, P 2 (60:30:10) kg, P 3 (70:20:10) kg and P 4 (80:10:10) kg, respectively. Results Temperature above 50°C was observed in all the piles except in P 0 . Physico-chemical characteristics of compost showed a stabilized compost obtained by proportionate mix of flower waste, cow dung and saw dust. Pile P 2 was observed with pH 7.23 and electrical conductivity 3.98 mS cm -1 , total organic carbon 30.9%, total nitrogen 2.31% and C:N ratio 14, thus a good proportion for compost amongst all the piles. Conclusions Appropriate proportion of waste mixture played an important role in providing favorable conditions for the microbial transformation of flower waste to stabilized compost. Temperature influenced the growth of microbes and maximum temperature was helpful in fast degradation of organic matter. Finally, flower waste with a combination of cow dung and saw dust was found to be successful during pile composting.

Application of rotary in-vessel composting and analytical hierarchy process for the selection of a suitable combination of flower waste

“…It shows that the rate of microbial activity is higher during the composting period. All trials were achieved the highest temperature of 50. to Adhikari, Barrington, Martinez, and King (2009) by dividing the volatile solids 1.83. Heating digester (Velp Scientifica DK 20) was used for digesting the 0.2 g sample 10 mL H 2 SO4 and HClO 4 mixture (5:1) at 300 °C for two hours.…”

“…Surat alone generates solid waste of 1700 ton/day. Among the wastes, the generation of flower waste is 1500 kg/day (Sharma, Varma, Yadav, & Kalamdhad, 2017). The flower waste contains organic materials which are easily degradable and are a good source of macro and micronutrients.…”

Role of Microbial Biomechanics in Composting with Special Reference to Lignocellulose Biomass Digestion

“…The population of nitrifying bacteria declines upon exposure to hypothermic temperatures (>70 °C) [100]. The research findings of [101] has indicated temperatures above 65 °C to halt the activities of fungi, actinomycetes, and certain bacteria species. Maintaining thermophilic activities is best realized between 52-60 o C [81].…”

Effect of bokashi improved with rock phosphate on parsley cultivation under organic greenhouse management

“…The temperature of each pile increased as microbial activity increased, rapidly reaching a thermophilic phase (Sharma et al, 2017) after which it sharply declined due to the required decrease in the height of the piles on day 7 (Figure 1B).…”

“…The EC of the treatments decreased during the biofertilizer preparation and at the end of the process had values close to 4.8 dS m -1 (Figure 1C), similar to those reported by Boudet et al (2015). These EC values can be attributed to the high content of ammonium and mineral salts produced by the degradation of OM that releases ammonium and phosphates (Sharma et al, 2017). The decrease in EC can be attributed to ammonia volatilization and mineral salt precipitation over time (Chennaoui et al, 2018).…”