Abstract
The present study investigated the acidification treatment of an agrowaste digestate and a food waste digestate, which is necessary before the addition of the wood ashes to attain the pH of zero point of charge in the blend intended to behave as a slow-release fertilizer. The 336-h acidification treatments of the 2.39 ± 0.35 g of digestates were performed with high and low doses of four commercial acids (sulfuric, hydrochloric, nitric, and lactic acids) in 50-mL capped Corning® tubes. For analytical purposes, after the incubation, ultrapure milli-Q® water was added at a rate of 10 mL for each gram of digestate to create a water-soluble phase that allowed the measurement of the pH and the electric conductivity. The results showed that the optimum dose and type of acid were very dependent on the nature of the anaerobic digestate. The maximum buffer capacity of the agrowaste digestate was 0.07 mmol H+-H2SO4/g, but this increased by adding the food waste digestate with a greater content of ammoniacal nitrogen. The agrowaste digestate with a greater content of undigested fiber was more easily oxidized by nitric acid. On the other hand, sulfuric acid oxidized the food waste digestate to a greater extent than the other acids did. Since a high dose of acid was required to achieve a greater efficiency in the solid–liquid separation, which would ease any subsequent handling of the digestates, hydrochloric acid was considered to be the most suitable acid. Lactic acid promoted the growth of filamentous microbes in the agrowaste digestate and microbial colonies in the food waste digestate, which is an indication of the poor preservation of the organic matter under these conditions.
Highlights
The circular economy can be attained by implementing simple treatment processes for the reuse of waste materials, which overall reduces the extraction of raw natural resources [2]
Digestates (Table 2), from which the time required for stabilization before the addition of obic digestates (Table 2), from which the time required for stabilization before the addition the wood ashes could be inferred
The most suitable acidification agent and dose were found to be dependent on the nature of the anaerobic digestate
Summary
The circular economy can be attained by implementing simple treatment processes for the reuse of waste materials (e.g., decrease in the pH of organic manures via the addition of commercial acids [1]), which overall reduces the extraction of raw natural resources [2]. The reprocessing [3], or simple combination of waste streams [4], can enhance the utilization of these materials and minimize the pollution of the environment [5]. The risk of cross-contamination is present at the time of reprocessing [8] and upon utilization of the waste-derived product if the material has not received sufficient upgrading [9]. Valorization of waste materials with a low content of pollutants is possible by direct application to land as soil amendments and fertilizers [10]. As described in the UK regulations, the suitability of a waste-derived product for a particular purpose is assessed by comparing its performance and environmental impact to those of a designed nonwaste material [11]. For residues that are produced in very large amounts (e.g., anaerobic digestate and biomass ash), the Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
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