Rotary drum composter as a low cost method for the removal of Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris Trichiura in faecal sludge compost

The aim of the study was to use of rotary drum composter as a low cost method for the removal of Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris Trichiura in faecal sludge compost. Two runs of compost experiment (Run 1 and Run 2) were carried out consecutively. Each Run of composting was done in four different rotary drums at real scale using a mixture of faecal sludge and shredded maize cobs and monitored for 12 weeks. Concentration of Ascaris and Trichuris were measured once a week to understand their behaviour. Temperature, Moisture Content and pH were also measured. High concentrations of Ascaris and Trichuris were present in the initial compost mix of both Runs 1 and 2. The concentration of Ascaris and Trichuris respectively in Run 1 ranged from 65–77 eggs/gTS and 30–41 eggs/gTS. In Run 2, measured concentrations of Ascaris and Trichuris ranged from 77–110 eggs/gTS and 46–52 eggs/gTS. After 84 days of composting faecal sludge, Ascaris was removed by a minimum of 82% and Trichuris by a minimum of 88%. The findings showed that plastic composter with paddles performed better compared with the other experiments. This means that the type of composter have a significant impact on the removal of helminth.

Organic Fertilizer from Bioethanol Solid Waste, Agricultural Waste, and Banana Peels Waste by Bio-act EM4 and Aspergillus niger

<p>Excessive use of chemical fertilizers may degrade the physical condition of the soil so that solid organic fertilizer was developed. Organic fertilizer was made from organic materials derived from plants or animals that had been made by the engineering process. Organic fertilizers were used to supply organic matter to improve the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil. This experiment aimed to study the effect of a mixture of bio ethanol solid waste, corn agricultural waste and banana peels waste with bio-activator EM4 and <em>Aspergillus niger</em> (<em>An</em>) to increase the content of potassium (K) in organic fertilizer and study the response of plant growth of chillies and eggplant against organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizers were made from agricultural waste, such as bio ethanol solid waste, corn agricultural waste, and banana peels waste that still have organic content which was good for plant growth. Organic fertilizers were made by mixing bio ethanol solid waste, corn agricultural waste, and banana peels waste with a ratio (w/w) of 1:2:3. After that, a mixture of EM4 and <em>An</em> with a ratio (v/v) of 1:1, 2:3, 3:2, 1:3, 3:1 and without any bio-activator were added. Organic fertilizer produced in a rotary drum composter with air aeration 14 L · min^–¹ conducted for 15 d. The content of N, P and K on each variable of organic fertilizer will be analyzed. Then it was tested on chillies and eggplant. Furthermore, the quality and quantity of planting fruit on the plants of eggplant and chillies were measured. Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that organic fertilizer with the addition of EM4:<em>An</em> 2:3 (v/v) increased the content of K up to 0.43 %. In accordance with SNI standards: 19-7030-2004, all test variables met the standards of the levels of N, and P; all organic fertilizers met the standard C/N ratio unless at the variables EM4:<em>An</em> 1:3 (v/v) and without bio-activator. For chillies, variable with the addition of EM4:<em>An</em> 2:3 (v/v) has the greatest weight, namely 0.95 g. Another variable, EM4:<em>An</em> 3:2 (v/v) can produced the amount of fruit up to 300 %. Where at the addition of EM4:<em>An</em> 2:3 (v/v) can produced eggplant fruit that weighs 24.01 g per harvest.</p>

Optimization of waste combinations during in-vessel composting of agricultural waste

In-vessel composting of agricultural waste is a well-described approach for stabilization of compost within a short time period. Although composting studies have shown the different combinations of waste materials for producing good quality compost, studies of the particular ratio of the waste materials in the mix are still limited. In the present study, composting was conducted with a combination of vegetable waste, cow dung, sawdust and dry leaves using a 550 L rotary drum composter. Application of a radial basis functional neural network was used to simulate the composting process. The model utilizes physico-chemical parameters with different waste materials as input variables and three output variables: volatile solids, soluble biochemical oxygen demand and carbon dioxide evolution. For the selected model, the coefficient of determination reached the high value of 0.997. The complicated interaction of agricultural waste components during composting makes it a nonlinear problem so it is difficult to find the optimal waste combinations for producing quality compost. Optimization of a trained radial basis functional model has yielded the optimal proportion as 62 kg, 17 kg and 9 kg for vegetable waste, cow dung and sawdust, respectively. The results showed that the predictive radial basis functional model described for drum composting of agricultural waste was well suited for organic matter degradation and can be successfully applied.