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Abstract

The aim of this project was to develop recommendations regarding how composting processes for the treatment of source-separated food waste in Nordic countries should be designed and implemented in order to: • Minimise the risk of odour problems with the process • Minimise the risk of odour problems with the finished product • Achieve an efficient and reliable process • Achieve a high and uniform product quality. The hypothesis for the project was that total odour emissions from the composting process, as well as the risk of odour from the finished compost product could be minimised if the process turnover rate and decomposition were to be maximised. In the project, incoming biowaste and composting processes were investigated at three full-scale composting plants (at NSR in Sweden, YTV in Finland and IVAR in Norway) and for an experimental reactor (at SLU in Sweden). The results showed a strong correlation between pH and odour in compost pore gas. At low pH values (below 6.0) the odour concentration was very high, from 70 000 to over 2 million ouE/m3, while at pH over 6.7 it was at most 44 000 ouE/m3. The biowaste collected was consistently acidic, with pH between 4.7 and 6.0. Tests confirmed previous results that the decomposition process proceeds much more slowly at low pH (

Keywords

kompost; pH

Published in

RVF rapport
2008, number: 2008:10
Publisher: Avfall Sverige utveckling

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Horticulture
Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/20734