Stabilization of Spent Grains by Composting: Case of the BB Brewery in Lomé (Togo)

Abstract

Brewery grains have a long history in animal feed. This use in animal feed nevertheless poses a problem, that of bad odors due to the sometimes too long shelf life of spent grains. The objective of this work is to recover spent grains from the BB brewery in Lomé by composting in order to stabilize them. A compost based solely on spent grains was produced after 5 months. The physico-chemical and spectroscopic characterizations at the end of the composting process revealed that the compost obtained has interesting properties with a pH = 7.01; a C/N ratio of 13.7 and a low level of heavy metals (Pb = 1.23 mg/kg, Cd = 0.04 mg/kg etc.).