Study on the Effect of Adding Zeolite and other Bio-Adsorbance in Enhancing the Quality of the Palm Based Vermicompost

Abstract

This research work deals with the production of vermicompost from empty fruit bunch (EFB) blended with cow dung using an epigeic earthworm known as Eudrilus Eugeniae. The vermicomposting mixture was carried out in a humid environment with moisture content between 70% to 80% and a pH of between 6 to 8. Natural zeolite, such as clinoptilolite and charcoal were mixed with vermicompost at different ratios and prior to being pelletized. The highest cation exchange capacity (CEC) was observed at 10% of zeolite (Z2) and 20% of charcoal (C4) mixtures. The proportion of 10% zeolite in the mixture resulted in the highest of Cu reduction by 44% and manganese by 60% and in addition the 15% charcoal caused the highest reduction of iron (Fe) by 32%. A significant decrease in carbon to nitrogen C/N ratio and an overall increase in total nitrogen, total available phosporous and total potassium were also discussed in this paper.

Composting with additives to improve organic amendments. A review

“…Four species are extensively used in vermicomposting facilities. They comprise two tropical species [Eudrilus eugeniae (Reinecke et al 1992;Kurien and Ramasamy 2006;Hayawin et al 2014) and Perionyx excavatus (Suthar and Singh 2008)] and two temperate ones [Eisenia andrei and Eisenia fetida (Kaushik and Garg 2003;Garg et al 2006;Malińska et al 2017;Alavi et al 2017)]. These species have been classified as epigeic worms and correspond to worms, which mainly feed on fresh organic matter such as litter, manure and compost (Bouché 1977).…”

“…Finally, pure minerals such as clay, extracted from quarries or soils, are increasingly used with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions during composting (Bolan et al 2012;Barthod et al 2016). These minerals are sometimes added during vermicomposting (Li et al 2009;Hayawin et al 2014;Barthod et al 2016).…”

“…During sewage sludge composting, worms improved the efficiency of additives such as fly ash or sawdust by increasing the exchangeable fraction of essential nutrients such as Zn and Cu and decreasing the soluble forms of non-essential elements such as Cr and Pb (Wang et al 2013a). Mineral additives were found to decrease heavy metal content and availability in covermicomposts (Hayawin et al 2014;He et al 2016).…”

“…Mineral additives, such as coal fly ash, zeolite and alum, reduce compost-soluble P contents compared to regular composting of sewage sludge, due to the formation of insoluble phosphate compounds (Menon et al 1993; or adsorption and formation of insoluble Al-phosphate intermediates (Lefcourt and Meisinger 2001;Belyaeva and Haynes 2012). Likewise, zeolite addition may retain soluble N (NH 4 + ) (Li et al 2008) and lead to a significant decrease in the C/N ratio and an increase in total nitrogen, total available phosphorous and total potassium (Hayawin et al 2014).…”

“…Various substrates might be added to waste during the composting process. They are either organic (Gabhane et al 2012;, mineral (Wong et al 1995;Himanen and Hänninen 2009;Wang et al 2016), biological (Wakase et al 2008;Jurado et al 2015;Awasthi et al 2017) or a mixture of substrates (Hayawin et al 2014;Awasthi et al 2018). Some added substrates are considered as bulking agents, when they only act on the physical structure of the compost (aeration), but most of the time, these substrates have also direct or indirect effects on other composting parameters and can be considered as additives (Villasenor et al 2011).…”