Abstract
The main environmental issue associated with compost production is the production of a liquid leachate. Leachate from municipal wastes contains carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements that can be used as nutrients by plants. The advantages of the use of organic wastes such as compost leachate as fertilizers are evident. Their use would reduce the consumption of commercial fertilizers, which need, with their production, high cost and energy. This work aims to determine the physical and chemical properties of a specific leachate with a variable composition, collected from the composting line of a mechanical and biological treatment facility. The goal is to assess if the leachates can be used as a potential source for fertilizers, and thus develop and design a sequence of processes which could effectively convert the leachates to commercial fertilizers according to the requirements of the proposal of regulation of the European Parliament of 2016 for fertilizers. Preliminary results show that the leachate samples qualitatively meet the requirements established for the composition of commercial fertilizers, especially organo-mineral fertilizers. Furthermore, there is no production cost of leachate as a raw material. The results show that the leachate is characterized by manageable concentrations of heavy metals which can be removed by adsorption processes, and it presents suitable amounts of organic carbon after a water removal procedure. However, the establishment of the conditions for suitable conversion processes are still under investigation considering the high composition variability due to factors like storage and environmental conditions.
Highlights
Disposal of municipal waste is a major environmental problem
The main pollution issue associated with this compost treatment is the production of a liquid leachate that is characterized by high levels of salts and NH4-N and high organic load that depend on many parameters such as the materials treated and the specific processes used for the treatment [7]
The handling and disposal of municipal waste compost leachate is one of the major problems of compost production, it may be considered as a source of nutrients and water
Summary
Disposal of municipal waste is a major environmental problem. Increased urbanization and industrialization, especially in developing countries, requires municipal authorities to handle larger amounts of municipal waste than in the past [1,2,3].To avoid the deposition of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste on landfill, new treatments and new application to the leachate must be developed [4,5,6]. Disposal of municipal waste is a major environmental problem. Especially in developing countries, requires municipal authorities to handle larger amounts of municipal waste than in the past [1,2,3]. To avoid the deposition of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste on landfill, new treatments and new application to the leachate must be developed [4,5,6]. The handling and disposal of municipal waste compost leachate is one of the major problems of compost production, it may be considered as a source of nutrients and water. Compost leachate from municipal wastes may contain carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements that can be used as nutrients by plants [8] The main pollution issue associated with this compost treatment is the production of a liquid leachate that is characterized by high levels of salts and NH4-N and high organic load that depend on many parameters such as the materials treated and the specific processes used for the treatment [7].
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