Abstract
Most bio-waste contains a high amount of moisture, but has high caloric value if dried. Effective drying could produce solid fuel from bio-waste. This paper discusses the effectiveness of drying with aerobic microbiological degradation similar to a composting process. Wood chips (WC) that show little bio-degradation and a mixture of WC and dogfood (Mix) that shows bio-degradation were used as experimental materials. Each of them was placed in a plastic column and aerated. During each experiment, changes in temperature, moisture and dry mass were monitored. The results showed that the moisture evaporation from Mix was greater than that from WC because of the increased temperature that resulted from biodegradation. We also clarified that the heat generation from biodegradation was greater than the heat used for moisture evaporation, material temperature increase and aeration. This indicates that effective drying can be achieved by utilizing the heat generated from biodegradation.
