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Composting of poultry manure and wheat straw in a closed reactor: optimum mixture ratio and evolution of parameters

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Abstract

The main objectives of this work were to investigate the evolution of some principal physico-chemical properties (temperature, carbon dioxide, oxygen, ammonia, pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter) and microbial population (mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria and fungi) during composting poultry manure with wheat straw in a reactor system, and to evaluate the optimum mixture ratio for organic substrate production. The experiments were carried out in four small laboratory reactors (1 l) and one large reactor (32 l) under adiabatic conditions over 14 days. During the process the highest temperature was 64.6°C, pH varied between 7.40 and 8.85, electrical conductivity varied between 3.50 and 4.31 dS m−1 and the highest value of organic matter (dry weight) degradation was 47.6%. Mesophilic bacteria and fungi predominated in the beginning, and started the degradation with generation of metabolic heat. By increasing the temperature in reactors, the number of thermophilic microorganisms also increased, which resulted in faster degradation of substrate. The application of a closed reactor showed a rapid degradation of manure/straw mixture as well as a good control of the emissions of air polluting gases into atmosphere. The results showed that the ratio of manure to straw 5.25:1 (dry weight) was better for composting process than the other mixture ratios.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Science of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Contract No.: 04-39-4358/03). The authors thank Pejo Pejić, Almir Šestan, Indira Alibašić and Snježana Hodžić for their excellent technical assistance throughout the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Process Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Tuzla, Univerzitetska 8, Tuzla, 75000, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Ivan Petric

  2. Department of Environmental Protection, Faculty of Technology, University of Tuzla, Univerzitetska 8, Tuzla, 75000, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Vahida Selimbašić

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  1. Ivan Petric
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  2. Vahida Selimbašić
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Correspondence to Ivan Petric.

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Petric, I., Selimbašić, V. Composting of poultry manure and wheat straw in a closed reactor: optimum mixture ratio and evolution of parameters. Biodegradation 19, 53–63 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-007-9114-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-007-9114-x

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