title: Home composting versus industrial composting: influence of composting system on compost quality with focus on compost stability.
abstract: Stability is one of the most important properties of compost obtained from the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes. This property is essential for the application of compost to land to avoid further field degradation and emissions of odors, among others. In this study, a massive characterization of compost samples from both home producers and industrial facilities is presented. Results are analyzed in terms of chemical and respiration characterizations, the latter representing the stability of the compost. Results are also analyzed in terms of statistical validation. The main conclusion from this work is that home composting, when properly conducted, can achieve excellent levels of stability, whereas industrial compost produced in the studied facilities can also present a high stability, although an important dispersion is found in these composts. The study also highlights the importance of respiration techniques to have a reliable characterization of compost quality, while the chemical characterization does not provide enough information to have a complete picture of a compost sample.
authors.affiliation: Composting Research Group (GICOM), Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Edifici Q Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain. Electronic address: raquel.barrena@uab.cat.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barrena
authors.affiliation: Composting Research Group (GICOM), Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Edifici Q Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Font
authors.affiliation: SosteniPrA Research Group, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Edifici C Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gabarrell
authors.affiliation: Composting Research Group (GICOM), Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Edifici Q Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez
mesh_terms: D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D062611:Solid Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D013030:Spain; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D062611:Solid Waste
keywords: Compost quality; Home composting; Industrial composting; Respiration; Stability