Poultry litter (PL) is a potentially underused fertilizer because it contains appreciable amounts of N, P, K, and micronutrients. However, treatments like composting to reduce potential pathogens, weed seeds, and odor often result in high losses of N through NH3 volatilization. Biochar (BC) has been shown to act as an absorber of NH3 and water-soluble NH4+ and might therefore reduce losses of N...

Livestock manures contain numerous microorganisms which can infect humans and/or animals, such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Mycobacterium paratuberculosis). The effects of commonly used manure treatments on the persistence of these pathogens have rarely been compared. The objective of this study was to com...

Packaging waste accounted for 78.81 million tons or 31.6% of the total municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2003 in the USA, 56.3 million tons or 25% of the MSW in 2005 in Europe, and 3.3 million tons or 10% of the MSW in 2004 in Australia. Currently, in the USA the dominant method of packaging waste disposal is landfill, followed by recycling, incineration, and composting. Since landfill occupies va...

conclusions the produced compost in this study was mature and ready for use as an agricultural substrate or soil conditioner after 80 days of composting. results the results showed that the c/n ratio decreased during the composting process (reached to 15.6) due to the loss of carbon and the increase in nitrogen content per unit material; also, the nh4+/no3 ratio decreased with increase in the t...

background: composting as a waste management technology is becoming more widespread. the purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and to find the most effective composting process for the ratio of green waste, digested and dewatered sludge from chonibieh wastewater treatment plant in the west region of ahvaz. methods: the composting time was 23 days and the evaluated parameters in th...

Background Compost habitats sustain a vast ensemble of microbes that engender the degradation of cellulose, which is an important part of global carbon cycle. β-Glucosidase is the rate-limiting enzyme of degradation of cellulose. Thus, analysis of regulation of β-glucosidase gene expression in composting is beneficial to a better understanding of cellulose degradation mechanism. Genetic diversi...

Composting has traditionally been used as a form of slow rotting of farm-yard manures and vegetative wastes with the resultant humus product useful in agriculture (Balfour; Howard; Wistinghausen & Sattler). However, renewed interest and modern engineering involvement has resulted in an essentially new composting image emphasizing significant technological inputs (Hoitink & Keener, Biocycle; Ryn...

All material is copyrighted and can only be used for purposes of this training. © 2008 The JG Press, Inc. MOST attention given to health aspects at composting facilities in the past has concerned public health, particularly bioaerosols, odor emissions and heavy metals in the finished product. Federal and state regulations have not dealt with worker health. For example, the federal 40 CFR Part 5...

The establishment of sustainable soil waste management practices implies minimizing their environmental losses associated with climate change (greenhouse gases: GHGs) and ecosystems acidification (ammonia: NH3 ). Although a number of management strategies for solid waste management have been investigated to quantify nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) losses in relation to varied environmental and oper...

The fate of the widely used lawn care herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) during the composting of yard trimmings consisting of primarily leaves and grass is an important unexplored question. In this study, we determined the extent of 2,4-D mineralization, incorporation into humic matter, volatilization, and sorption during the composting of yard trimmings. Yard trimmings (2:1 [wt/...