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Co-composting of hair waste from the tanning industry with de-inking and municipal wastewater sludges

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Abstract

Production of waste hair in the leather manufacturing industry is increasing every year due to the adoption of hair-save unhairing techniques, leaving the tanners with the problem of coping with yet another solid by-product. Numerous potential strategies for hair utilisation have been proposed. However, the use of hair waste as agricultural fertiliser is one of its most promising applications due to the high nitrogen content of hair. Agricultural value of hair can be increased by composting. This paper deals with the composting of hair from the unhairing of bovine hide. Results indicated that hair cannot be either composted on its own or co-composted with de-inking sludge, a chemical complementary co-substrate. However, good results were obtained when co-composted with raw sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant at hair:raw sludge weight ratios 1:1, 1:2 and, 1:4 in lab scale and pilot plant scale composters. In all cases, a more stable product was achieved at the end of the process. Composting in the pilot plant composter was effectively monitored using Static Respiration Indices determined at process temperature at sampling (SRI T ) and at 37°C (SRI37). Notably, SRI T values were more sensitive to changes in the biological activity. In contrast, Respiratory Quotient (RQ) values were not adequate to follow the development of the process.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the interest of Miquel Vila from Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació S.L: in the development of this work. The financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Project REN2003-00823) is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament d’Enginyeria Química, Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

    Raquel Barrena, Adriana Artola & Antoni Sánchez

  2. GIRO Centre Tecnològic, Rbla. Pompeu Fabra 1, 08100, Mollet del Vallès, Spain

    Estel.la Pagans & Felícitas Vázquez

Authors
  1. Raquel Barrena
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  2. Estel.la Pagans
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  3. Adriana Artola
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  4. Felícitas Vázquez
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  5. Antoni Sánchez
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Correspondence to Felícitas Vázquez.

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Barrena, R., Pagans, E., Artola, A. et al. Co-composting of hair waste from the tanning industry with de-inking and municipal wastewater sludges. Biodegradation 18, 257–268 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-006-9060-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-006-9060-z

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