title: Influence of bulking agents on physical, chemical, and microbiological properties during the two-stage composting of green waste.
abstract: A recyclable organic bulking agent (BA) that can be screened and was developed to optimize green waste (GW) composting. This study investigated the use of wood chips (WC) (at 0%, 15%, and 25%) and/or composted green waste (CGW) (at 0%, 25%, and 35%) as the BAs in the two-stage composting of GW. The combined addition of WC and CGW improved the conditions of composting process and the quality of compost product in terms of composting temperature, porosity, water retention, particle-size distribution, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), nitrogen losses, humification indices, microbial numbers, enzyme activities, macro- and micro-nutrient contents, and toxicity to germinating seeds. The compost matured in only 22days with the optimized two-stage composting method rather than in the 90-270days typically required for traditional composting. The optimal two-stage composting process and the best quality of compost product were obtained with the combined addition of 15% WC and 35% CGW.
authors.affiliation: College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China. Electronic address: zhanglu1211@bjfu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China. Electronic address: xysunbjfu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiangyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D029741:Brassica rapa / Q000254:growth & development; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D018525:Germination; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010316:Particle Size; D016062:Porosity; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013696:Temperature; D014866:Waste Products; D014934:Wood
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D012987:Soil; D014866:Waste Products; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Compost; Composted green waste; Green waste; Two-stage composting; Wood chips