Simulation of Carbon Dioxide Production during Composting of Agro-Wastes

Carbon dioxide production during composting of agro-waste can be taken as the indicator of rate, progress and termination of compost phenomenon and stabilization of organic matter, leading to a balanced compromise between complexity of mathematical model and extensive experimentation. Modeling and simulation of composting of agro-wastes based on experimentally measured carbon dioxide production would reduce the experimental effort, time, and other physical resources in design of optimized compost process for disposal of agro-waste. In this study modeling and simulation of composting of a mixture of agro-wastes like sugarcane bagasse, soya husk, wood straw, mixed with food waste is presented. This approach requires estimates of initial values of different carbon fractions. The effect of such estimates on prediction of carbon dioxide production is also studied in this work.