Author(s): Sequeira, Liliana Lopes
Date: 2013
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/6130
Origin: Repositório da UTL
Subject(s): composting; municipal solid waste; compost quality; evaluation of stability/maturation; biodegradable plastics; biodegradability
Mestrado em Engenharia do Ambiente - Tecnologias Ambientais - Instituto Superior de Agronomia
The composting has proven a good alternative in the management, treatment and valorization of municipal solid waste. Depending on the raw materials used for its production, the product may be considered organic fertilizer/corrective to be used in agriculture activities. The present work was developed aiming the evaluation of the MSW composting evolution, by the determination of physical, physical-chemical and biological parameters, in biomass collected along the process, as well as the assessment of stability/maturation degree of the final compost. For each collected sample it was also introduced two different types of biodegradable/compostable plastics, each sample corresponding to a particular phase of stability/curing of composting process in order to evaluate the influence of these plastics in the samples that was obtained and the possible occurrence of biodegradation of plastics in the several phases analyzed. The results showed that the parameters fulfilled the existing literature, allowing the compound the designation of matured/stabilized. The biological characterization of the final compost showed that it presents phytotoxicity, which fact is related to the presence of ammoniacal nitrogen and high electrical conductivity. The introduction of biodegradable plastics in the process didn’t affect any parameter analyzed, showing increasing degree of biodegradability over the course of analysis.
