title: Evaluation of pilot-scale in-vessel composting for food waste treatment.
abstract: This study is aimed to evaluate the performance of pilot-scale in-vessel composting for food wastes treatment. The composting plant was installed with 324 m3 of the composting bay volume and 14,000 kg/day of the composting material flow rate. The evaluations studied included the operational indices, the compost maturity indices, and the quality of the final compost. Blowers of this system were useful in maintaining aerobic condition (over 6% oxygen concentration in off-gas) through the entire compost bay. The levels of indices evaluated remained constant in the final part of composting. The final compost was satisfactory for its agricultural application. It was revealed in this study that bulk density bore a linear relation to moisture content during composting, and the final compost without bulking agent showed negative correlation between heavy metal and organic matters content.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health & Environment, Hallym College, Chuncheon 200-711, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Joung-Dae
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Joon-Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Byung-Hoon
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: In
authors.forename: Daekeun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Wan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Namkoong
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D005502:Food; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil