Monitoring of Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Performance: Conventional Co-Substrates vs. Unmarketable Biochar Additions.

This study proposed the selection of cost-effective additives generated from different activity sectors to enhance and stabilize the start-up, as well as the transitional phases, of semi-continuous food waste (FW) anaerobic digestion. The results showed that combining agricultural waste mixtures including wheat straw (WS) and cattle manure (CM) boosted the process performance and generated up to 95% higher methane yield compared to the control reactors (mono-digested FW) under an organic loading rate (OLR) range of 2 to 3 kg VS/m·d. Whereas R3 amended with unmarketable biochar (UBc), to around 10% of the initial fresh mass inserted, showed a significant process enhancement during the transitional phase, and more particularly at an OLR of 4 kg VS/m·d, it was revealed that under these experimental conditions, FW reactors including UBc showed an increase of 144% in terms of specific biogas yield (SBY) compared to FW reactors fed with agricultural residue.

Potential of windrow food and green waste composting in Tunisia.

Solid waste management and disposal is one of the most significant challenges facing urban communities around the world. There is a wide range of alternative waste management options and strategies available for dealing with the notable increase in the waste stream. Composting is one of the most viable and efficient waste treatment options in terms of the reduction in the negative effects from the application of organic waste to soil.