In search of a reliable technique for the determination of the biological stability of the organic matter in the mechanical–biological treated waste

Abstract

The biological stability determines the extent to which readily biodegradable organic matter has decomposed. In this work, a massive estimation of indices suitable for the measurement of biological stability of the organic matter content in solid waste samples has been carried out. Samples from different stages in a Mechanical-Biological Treatment (MBT) plant treating municipal solid wastes (MSW) were selected as examples of different stages of organic matter stability in waste biological treatment.Aerobic indices based on respiration techniques properly reflected the process of organic matter biodegradation. Static and dynamic respirometry showed similar values in terms of aerobic biological activity (expressed as Oxygen Uptake Rate, OUR), whereas cumulative oxygen consumption was a reliable method to express the biological stability of organic matter in solid samples. Methods based on OUR and cumulative oxygen consumption were positively correlated. Anaerobic methods based on biogas production (BP) tests also reflected well the degree of biological stability, although significant differences were found in solid and liquid BP assays. A significant correlation was found between cumulative oxygen consumption and ultimate biogas production.The results obtained in this study can be a basis for the quantitative measurement of the efficiency in the stabilization of organic matter in waste treatment plants, including MBT plants, anaerobic digestion of MSW and composting plants.

Quality evaluation and improvement of mechanically–biologically treated municipal solid waste in view of a possible recovery

“…VS and TOC showed to have roughly the same distribution in SBW I and in SBW IV (Fig. 3), proving the correlation between these two parameters (Bayard et al 2010) as they both are directly related to the organic carbon content (Barrena et al 2009). Differences between SBW I and SBW IV can be noticed since VS and TOC increased in classes A and B and decreased or kept roughly constant in classes C and D for SBW IV compared to SBW I.…”

“…Comparing UBW, SBW I and SBW IV, low reduction in VS and TOC content during biodegradation process can be observed (Leikam and Stegmann 1999;Lornage et al 2007;Barrena et al 2009;Bayard et al 2010). This is because VS and TOC take into account the overall organic matter, namely the nondegradable, slowly and readily degradable.…”

“…One of the output of MBT is the stabilized biowaste (SBW) produced from the biological treatment, generally consisting of aerobic biostabilization, of the organic fraction mechanically separated from the input MSW. Nowadays, unlike other MBT outputs (such as refuse derived fuels, RDFs), official European standards regulating quality requirements of the stabilized biowaste and its possible use options do not exist despite hundreds of large scale MBT facilities of residual MSW were developed in Europe in the last two decades (Lornage et al 2007;Barrena et al 2009;Bayard et al 2010;Ponsá et al 2010;Tintner et al 2010). There is only a draft of the European Commission, i.e., ''Biological treatment of biowaste-2nd draft' ' (European Commission 2001), which states that the mechanical-biological treatment shall have the purpose of stabilizing and reducing the volume of the biodegradable waste in order to ensure that the resulting stabilized biowaste can either be used for ecological improvement or has reduced negative environmental impacts when landfilled.…”

Conversion of Municipal Solid Wastes into Biochar through Hydrothermal Carbonization

“…Recently, to address increasing energy consumption and the steady depletion of fossil fuel reserve, many investigations have been conducted to develop alternative and renewable energy resources using biomass and waste [1,2]. Because rapid urbanization is occurring almost everywhere in the world, substantially increasing municipal solid waste (MSW), which is of great global concern.…”

Anaerobic and Aerobic Transformations Affecting Stability of Dewatered Sludge during Long‐Term Storage in a Lagoon

“…This indicator does not, however, necessarily reflect the nature of the material and its potential for biodegradability (Ponsa et al, 2010). Among other stability indicators used in the studies of composts or biological wastes, respirometric activity is the most typically used indicator of microbial activity (Barrena et al, 2009). Schievano et al (2008) demonstrated that an oxygen uptake rate (OUR) assay in combination with volatile solids data can be useful to evaluate the performance of the anaerobic digestion process.…”