The effect of the composting time on the gaseous emissions and the compost stability in a full-scale sewage sludge composting plant
González Alé, Daniel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Colón Jordà, Joan (Universitat de Vic - Universitat Central de Catalunya. Centre Tecnològic BETA)
Gabriel, David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Sanchez, Antoni (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)

Date:	2019
Description:	13 pàg.
Abstract:	Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ammonia are some of the compounds present in gaseous emissions from waste treatment facilities that contribute to odour pollution. In the present work, the effect of the residence time on the biological stability of raw sludge (RS) composted in dynamic windrows and the gaseous emissions generated were studied at a full-scale composting plant, aiming to provide specific pollutant emission factors and to determine their variability depending on the composting time. Waste stability and emissions analysis considered both a first phase where mixed RS and vegetal fraction (RS - VF) is actively composted in dynamic windrows and a second standard curing phase in turned piles, which lasted 31 days. Two windrows were operated at 4 days of composting time while two other windrows were operated simultaneously at 14 days composting time. Increasing the residence time leads to a better waste stabilization in the first composting phase, providing a 50% reduction ofthe Dynamic Respiration Index. A decrease of the ammonia emission factor was achieved when increasing the composting time (from 168. 5 g NH 3 ·Mg −1 RS - VF d −1 to 114. 3 g NH 3 ·Mg −1 RS - VF d −1 ), whereas the VOCs emission factor was maintained for the same process conditions (between 26. 0 and 28. 0 g C-VOC·Mg −1 RS - VF d −1 ). However, an increase of the emission masses of both pollutants was observed (from 0. 16 to 0. 39 kg tVOCs·Mg −1 RS − VF and from 1. 21 to 1. 60 kg NH 3 ·Mg −1 RS - VF). Finally, ammonia and VOCs emissions generated at the curing piles were nearly avoided when increasing the composting time of the first phase.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Ammonia ; Biological treatment ; Biological stability ; Composting ; Gaseous emissions ; Indexes ; Performance ; Volatile organic-compounds ; Wastes ; Wastewater sludge
Published in:	Science of the total environment, Vol. 654 (March 2019) , p. 311-323, ISSN 1879-1026

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.081
PMID: 30445331

Postprint 47 p, 3.6 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Engineering > Composting Research Group (GICOM)
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Engineering > GENOCOV
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles