title: Inferring pathogen inactivation from the surface temperatures of compost heaps.
abstract: A sufficiently high composting temperature should inactivate many common pathogens likely to be present in solid animal waste. Monitoring core temperatures inside compost heaps is not straightforward, which means that heaps are not generally monitored. An alternative is to monitor surface temperatures and use those data to infer core temperatures, and thus whether pathogen inactivation has occurred. This paper describes two methods (thermal imaging and thermocouples) for the measurement of surface temperature, and a modelling approach using time series analysis to predict the temperatures obtained in the core of aerated heaps of composting pig farmyard manure (FYM) from surface temperature data. The model was able to predict core temperatures in the heap quite closely for a period of time for well insulated parts of the heap, although predictions were further from observed values close to the surface of the heap and the aeration pipe.
authors.affiliation: Silsoe Research Institute, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4HS, UK. claire.turner@bbsrc.ac.uk
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Rodger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tillett
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D008372:Manure / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012987:Soil; D034421:Sus scrofa; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D008372:Manure; D012987:Soil