Comparison of methods for evaluating stability and maturity of co-composting of municipal solid wastes and sewage sludge in semi-arid pedo-climatic condition
Olfa Fourti, Naceur Jedidi, Abdennaceur Hassen
.
DOI: 10.4236/ns.2011.32018   PDF    HTML     5,849 Downloads   11,438 Views   Citations

Abstract

The step of maturation (around 60 days) appeared less active as compared to the first step of pre-fermentation (around 90 days) since the values of temperature, recorded during the second step of maturation, are found generally less important than those recorded during the first step. A similar tendency of C/N ratio values decrease is generally observed in the two piles of wastes during the two steps of composting and these C/N ratio values determined in the pile of wastes free of sewage sludge (W1) are generally slightly higher than those observed in the pile added with dry sewage sludge (W2). The amount of total heavy metals (order of content: Zn > Pb > Ni > Cu > Cr > Cd) appeared very heterogeneous and showed a large variation in the two piles of wastes. The use of sewage sludge in the pile W2 showed generally no apparent impact on the whole amount of total heavy metals recorded in the finished product and the values recorded are usually lower than the metal concentration limits imposed by several countries. Microbial inventory and total DNA extracted from composting materials followed during all the two steps of composting showed a net variation over time, and revealed specifically a good parallel progress according to the ambient temperature recorded inside the waste materials. It appeared also from this study that the microbial diversity is much nuanced in the case of windrow W2 added with sewage sludge as compared to that observed in the case of windrow W1 free of sewage sludge.

Share and Cite:

Fourti, O. , Jedidi, N. and Hassen, A. (2011) Comparison of methods for evaluating stability and maturity of co-composting of municipal solid wastes and sewage sludge in semi-arid pedo-climatic condition. Natural Science, 3, 124-135. doi: 10.4236/ns.2011.32018.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Ouatmane, A., Provenzano, M.R., Hafidi, M. and Senesi N. (2000). Compost maturity assessment using calorimetry, spectroscopy and chemical analysis. Compost Science & Utilization, 8, 124-134.
[2] de Bertoldi, M., Vallini, G. and Pera, A. (1985) Practices Composting of agricultural wastes and other wastes. In: Gasser, J. K. R. (Ed.).
[3] Hassen, A., Belguith, K., Jedidi, N., Cherif, A., Cherif, M. and Boudabous, A. (2001) Microbial characterization during composting of municipal solid waste. Bioresource Technology, 80, 185-192. doi:10.1016/S0960-8524(01)00065-7
[4] Whittle, A.J. and Dyson, A.J. (2002) The fate of heavy metals in green waste composting. The Environmentalist, 22, 13-21. doi:10.1007/BF00505887
[5] Ranjard, L., Poly, F., Combrisson, J., Gourbiere, F., Richaume, A., Thioulouse, J. and Nazaret, S. (2000) Heterogeneous cell density and genetic structure of bacterial pools associated with various soil microenvironments as determined by enumeration and DNA fingerprinting approach (RISA). Microbial Ecology, 39, 263- 272.
[6] Seishi, I., David, M.C.L., Roberts, W.K.N. and Ytow, N. (2004) Microbial community analyses using a simple, rapid detection method for DNA fingerprints with a fluorescence scanner. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, 98, 500-503.
[7] Lehtokari, M., Nikkola, P. and Paatero, J. (1983) Determination of ATP from compost using the firefly bioluminescence technique. European Journal of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 17, 187-192. doi:10.1007/BF00505887
[8] Hiraishi, A., Iwasaki, M., and Shinjo, H. (2000) Terminal restriction pattern analysis of 16S rRNA genes for the characterization of bacterial communities of activated sludge. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, 90, 148-156.
[9] Czaczyk, K., Trojanowska, K., Stachowiak, B. and Dubisz, H. (2001) Changes in Cell Number and the ATP Content during the Composting Process. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 10, 149-153.
[10] Gillet, R. (1986). Industrial treatment of urban and assimilated wastes. Organization and management of a service. Management treaty of solid wastes and its application to under developed countries. WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, 2, 538.
[11] Bremmer, J.M. and Mulvaney, C.S. (1982) Total nitrogen. In: Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2. Chemical and Microbiological Properties, Ed., C. A. Bluck. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, 1179-1239.
[12] Nelson, D.W. and Sommers, L.E. (1982) Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2. Agronomy Monographs, Eds. A. L. Page et al. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, 539-579.
[13] Hassen, A., Jedidi, N., Cherif, M., M’Hiri, A., Boud- abous, A. and Cleemput, O.V. (1998) Mineralization of nitrogen in a clayey loamy-soil amended with organic wastes enriched with Zn, Cu and Cd. Bioresource Technology, 64, 39-45. doi:10.1016/S0960-8524(97)00153-3
[14] Tabatabai, M.A. (1982) Soil enzymes. Agronomy, 9, 903-947.
[15] Bouzaiane, O., Cherif, H., Saidi, N., Jedidi, N. and Hassen, A. (2007) Effects of municipal solid waste compost application on the microbial biomass of cultivated and non-cultivated soil in a semi-arid zone. Waste Management & Research, 25, 334-342. doi:10.1177/0734242X07078287
[16] Leckie, S.E., Prescott, C.E., Grayston, S.J., Neufeld, J.D. and Mohn, W.W. (2004) Comparison of chloroform fumigation-extraction, phospholipid fatty acid, and DNA methods to determine microbial biomass in forest humus. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 36, 529-532. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2003.10.014
[17] Steffan, R.J., Goksoyr, J., Bej, A.K. and Atlas, R.M. (1988) Recovery of DNA from soils and sediments. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 54, 2908-2915.
[18] Ben, A.L., Hassen, A., Jedidi, N., Saidi, N., Bouzaiane, O. and Murano, M. (2006) Microbial C and N dynamics during composting process of urban solid waste. Waste Management & Research, 25, 24-29.
[19] CCME: Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, 1995. Proposed compost standards for Canada, 1993. Cited in the Composting Council of Canada, Com- posting Technologies and Practices.
[20] Mustin, M. (1987) Le compost “gestion de la matière organique”. Editions Fran?ois Dubusc- Paris, 954.
[21] Pedro, M.S., Haruta, S., Hazaka, M., Shimada, R., Yoshida, C., Hiura, K., Ishii, M. and Igarashi, Y. (2001) Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analyses of microbial community from field-scale composter. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, 91, 159-165. doi:10.1263/jbb.91.159
[22] Marshall, M.N., Cocolin, L., Mills, D.A. and VanderGheynst, J.S. (2003) Evaluation of PCR primers for denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of fungal communities in compost. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 95, 934-948. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2672.2003.02062.x
[23] Poulsen, P.H.B., M?ller, J. and Magid, J. (2008) Determination of a relationship between chitinase activity and microbial diversity in chitin amended compost. Bioresource Technology, 99, 4355-4359. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2007.08.042
[24] Wagner, D.J., Bacon, G.D., Knocke, W.R. and Switzenbaum, M.S. (1990) Changes and variability in concentration of heavy metals in sewage sludge during composting. Environmental Technology, 11, 949-960. doi:10.1080/09593339009384947
[25] Canaruttto, S., Petruzzelli, G., Lubrano, L. and Guidi, G.V. (1991) How composting affects heavy metal content. BioCycle, 32, 48-50.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.