Comparison of characteristics of Backyard and Municipal Solid Waste Composting Phenomena

摘要

In the present work, comparison of characteristics of Backyard (Home) and MunicipalSolid Waste (MSW) composting was studied by physico-chemical characters, Fourier TransformInfrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction methods in order to determine the quality ofthe compost produced. Samples were analyzed for both the composting piles at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50and 60 days of composting processes. Temperature of both the piles reached thermophilic phasebefore the 10th day but faster rate of decrease in temperature was observed for backyardcomposting. The concentrations of essential plant nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorous,Potassium, Calcium etc., were quite similar in both Backyard and MSW composting samples.The higher concentration of trace metals were observed in MSW compost samples, which canlead do accumulation of trace metals in agricultural lands and thereby enhancing the toxicitylevel. FT-IR spectra indicate the formation of stable aromatic structures from the long chainpolysaccharides and other aliphatic compounds. Degradation of complex molecules into smallerconstituents was indicated by X-ray Diffraction.