Composting of Organic Waste Using Aeration Tank

Abstract

This research aims to study the final characteristic of composts that produced from food scraps, dry leaves and cow manure by using  aeration tanks, and to study the suitable aeration period that generates the good composts. The four different aeration periods were varied: 1) tank no.1 24 hrs aeration 2) tank no.2 without aeration 3) tank no.3 6 hrs with and without aerations 4) tank no.4 12 hrs with and without aerations. All tanks were kept for composting 60 days. The experimental results showed that the characteristics of compost in the tanks no. 1, 2, 3 and 4 were as follows: pH were 8.14, 6.05, 6.32 and 6.31; the moisture content were 42, 59, 59 and 46%; the percentage of carbon were 22.76, 27.67, 24.73 and 26.2%; the percentage of nitrogen were 1.08, 1.05, 1.1 and 1.06%; C/N ratio were 21.09, 26.46, 22.42, and 24.62, and the percentage of phosphorus were 20.0, 24.4, 30.6 and 17.7%, respectively.  The studied results indicated that the decomposition of composts were affected by the aeration period.