Household food waste dehydration technique as a pretreatment method for food waste minimisation

Abstract

The results of the examination of the physicochemical characteristics of domestic food waste (DFW) pretreated with the domestic food waste drying method are presented within this research. Domestic waste drying is considered to be an innovative approach which involves the source separation and dehydration of household food waste in order to reduce its mass and volume at source through the efficient removal of its moisture content. An innovative waste drying unit was developed from scratch in order to perform this research. The use of the system revealed that the average mass reduction of food waste reached 78.52%w/w. The average decrease of its volume was recorded equal to 58.77%. The method of domestic waste drying was found to be an attractive pretreatment method and could be used as an inextricable part of a waste management strategy for bioethanol production as its use preserves the carbohydrate content of DFW.