Assessment of the Effect of Various Catalysts on the Destruction of Food Waste during Their Processing

Abstract

The process of destruction of solid household waste occurs mainly under the action of microflora and leads to mass loss due to mineralization of organic matter, with separation of filtrate and gases. Considering the basic principles of the action of enzyme preparations, it is promising to create conditions for fermentation of the nutrient solution by a consortium of microorganisms, for example, existing in the soil. Another promising direction may be to stimulate the growth and development of native microflora (microorganisms and fungi) due to the effects of surfactants and/or providing preliminary hydrolysis of the substrate. The effect of stimulating catalyst additives on the weight loss of food waste samples was evaluated and compared. The effect was recorded in the form of a loss of substrate mass and a decrease in its volume. Variants of catalysts (honey syrup, protein hydrolysate, potassium hydrophosphate), their combinations, as well as a commercial drug and water as a comparison were investigated. Under anaerobic conditions, it was shown that the losses due to the release of gases were small, while the option with a commercial catalyst showed the greatest efficiency. Under aerobic conditions, when using a combination of molasses and an alkaline medium as a catalyst, a faster mass loss was shown, which slowed down by the end of the experiment. At the same time, an additional amount of alkali (2.8% of the substrate weight) had a significant effect on the substrate due to the alkaline hydrolysis of the components, which made them more accessible for further microbiological destruction.