title: Microbiological aspects of humid husk composting.
abstract: The feasibility of composting as disposal practice of husk mixed with olive mill wastewaters (OMW) was studied in the present research. The process was investigated with regards to some reliable and easy to be determined microbial activity parameters such as the ATP content, the activity of a pool of enzymes and the viable counts, keeping in mind the well known bias of this last technique. Two different composting technologies were compared: static pile and reactor by studying the cured composts obtained. Among the bioindicators tested, the composting process trend was described better by the ATP content and the activity of some enzymes. In fact, the ATP content showed an increase during the thermophilic phase in both the pile and the reactor, and decreased at the end of the process, it was also higher in the bioreactor-pile technology than in the pile. With regard to the enzymatic activity, with the reactor technology experiment, two peaks were evidenced in the thermophilic phase and during the curing phase in pile, and a drop during the transfer of material from the reactor to the pile. The quality of the cured product obtained using the reactor technology has been evaluated considering phytoxicity and hygienic features: the stabilised compost resulted to have neither phytoxical effect, nor faecal indicator contaminants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science Technology and Microbiology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Principi
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ranalli
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: da Borso
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pin
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zanardini
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sorlini
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D000383:Agriculture; D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D007220:Industrial Waste; D031658:Olea; D010938:Plant Oils; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D010938:Plant Oils; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate