Oil degradability of food waste in composting process

Abstract

Continuous rapid economic of China has growth has improved their quality of life which has caused the increasing of food waste in municipal solid waste (MSW), but waste treatment infrastructure has not developed in China. There is no collection system of source separated recyclable materials in China, that make MSW treatment more difficult, due to the nature of organic or biodegradable waste, it generally spoils easily, decomposes rapidly and generates odoriferous gases. Composting curtails environmental pollution, reduces randfilling wastes, and limits greenhouse gas emission. Therefore, composting the organic or biodegradable waste in MSW thought to be the most suitable and effective treatment method. But, now, there is no composting treatment system in China, thus a good quality composting technology is needed.Chinese MSW includes not only domestic waste but also industrial food waste which may contain high percentage of oil which may inhibit soil microorganism growth. For producing safety food waste compost, oil degradability thorough composting process must be clarified.This study aimed to clarify oil degradability in food waste by composting and its effects on plant growth. It was found that food waste could contain 43％(dried weight material) of oil, 85~97％ of which decomposed; final products contained only 0.9％(dried weight material). Moreover, food waste could contain 8％(dried weight material) of salt and 14％(dried weight material) of oil, oil decomposed less than 1.5％.