title: Biological nutrient transformation during composting of pig manure and paper waste.
abstract: Composting of pig manure is a challenging task that requires appropriate co-substrate and bulking agent to provide optimum composting conditions and reduce nitrogen loss. In this study, paper waste is co-composted with pig manure as well as wood chips as the bulking agents. These raw materials were mixed at three different ratios of paper: pig manure: wood chips = 1:1:0 (pile 1), 3:2:1 (pile 2) and 3:1:1(pile 3), respectively. Each composting pile was about 11 m3in size equipped with negative-pressure forced aeration. The temperature of all the three piles ranged between 43 and 76°C and therefore produced pathogen-free compost. The overall total carbon reduction of 39%, 36% and 36% were achieved from pile 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The [Formula: see text] increased with the composting period, indicating the transformation of ammoniacal-N into nitrate by nitrification activity. However, all three piles showed significant variations in soluble [Formula: see text] at different stages of composting, which could be due to the microbial assimilation and mineralization. The results revealed that the co-composting of pig manure, paper along with wood chips was optimum under the mixing ratio of 3:2:1 (pile 2).
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology, Sino-Forest Applied Research Centre for Pearl River Delta Environment , Hong Kong Baptist University , Kowloon Tong , Hong Kong SAR , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jonathan W C
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology, Sino-Forest Applied Research Centre for Pearl River Delta Environment , Hong Kong Baptist University , Kowloon Tong , Hong Kong SAR , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Obulisamy P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Karthikeyan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology, Sino-Forest Applied Research Centre for Pearl River Delta Environment , Hong Kong Baptist University , Kowloon Tong , Hong Kong SAR , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ammaiyappan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Selvam
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D008372:Manure / Q000032:analysis*; D010209:Paper; D059027:Recycling / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*; D014934:Wood / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D008372:Manure
keywords: Aerated pile composting; nutrient transformation; paper; pig manure; wood chips and bulking agent