Chapter 8 - Role of microbes and microbial dynamics during composting

Abstract

The risk of environmental pollution caused by organic solid waste is increasing, and composting is a research hotspot in the resource utilization of organic solid waste. Microorganisms are the main decomposers that drive the biotransformation of organic solid waste and play an important role in composting. The composting process is a dynamic process realized by the joint action of multiple microbial groups with very rapid community structure evolution, and the quality of compost is closely related to the diversity and quantity of microorganisms; the change of composting microorganisms will also directly affect the physical and chemical properties of compost temperature, pH, humic acid content, etc., and improve the degradation rate and utilization rate of organic matter. Traditional microbial research methods can reflect the changes of bacterial flora, biochemical and molecular biology methods will be applied to the study of compost microorganisms, which are more accurate than the traditional methods and have the advantages of fast, sensitive, and high throughput, and can achieve the accurate identification of microorganisms. At the same time, the combined use of multiple methods can avoid the shortcomings of a single method. Microcurrent research on composting microorganisms tends to be applied, and future research on the mechanism of microbial effects on compost quality can be strengthened. This chapter will introduce the role of microbes and microbial dynamics in the composting process from several perspectives to provide a theoretical basis for future composting research.