ESR 4.4 André Manuel Simões dos Santos

André Santos
• PhD student at:
– CEBAS-CSIC, Spain
Nationality:
Supervisor:
Portuguese
Dr. Mª Pilar Bernal
• Subproject title:
– ESR-4.4: Development of composting technology for bio-fertiliser production.
Start date: Sep 1st, 2012
•
• Educational background:
– B.Sc./ M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering/ Instituto Superior de Agronomia
(ISA-UTL).
• Research and work experience:
– MSc Thesis: “Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Matter – Biogas production from
maize crop residues.
– Internship: “Elaboration of the annual Environmental Sustainability campaign”
Tate&Lyle Açúcares Portugal SA, Portugal.
WP 4.4 - Development of composting technology
for bio-fertiliser production
André Santos
CEBAS-CSIC, Spain
[email protected]
Objectives & Questions
Background
Intensive pig production system increases the quantities of manure and so, the environmental
problems associated with it.
In the EU-27, there are more than 13×106 pig livestock units. which produce approximately 295×106
tons of pig manure per year (MARM. 2009), while in Murcia, the fourth Spanish region in pig production,
there are 1.6×106 pigs, corresponding to an annual production of about 6.5 Hm3 of slurries (CARM. 2009).
These imply the development of environmental friendly technologies for manure treatment, which
allow exporting the excess of nutrients and OM to other agricultural areas.
Composting of organic wastes is a biooxidative process involving the mineralisation and partial
humification of the organic matter, leading to a stabilised final product, free of phytotoxicity and pathogens
and with certain humic properties.
Simple technology, easy to manage and control, only requires space and the control of factors:
aeration, pH, density, moisture and C/N ratio.
ADVANTAGES:
• Recycles wastes
• Reduces the volume, removes unpleasant odours and pathogens and produces a high value biofertiliser for
plants.
• Improves soil structure and water holding capacity.
• Increases OM and humic properties.
Weight
• Nutrients recycling like N, P, K and some other micronutrients.
• Reduces the use of inorganic fertilisers to improve plants growth.
OBJECTIVES:
Develop the most optimal method to produce high quality biofertilisers by co-composting pig manure with
plant residues (and other organic wastes) as bulking agents and optimising, in quality, the composting
conditions:
• The effect of pile compaction on aeration and therefore on the development of the temperature profile
and degradation of the mass during composting;
• The influence of the bulking agent and porosity on the quality of compost produced.
HYPOTHESIS:
• Co-composting of solid fraction of pig slurry will be a feasible technology for recycling animal manures in
areas of excess production.
• Co-composting of solid fraction of pig slurry can reduce CO2 emission by stabilisation and humification.
• The control of the pile density will ensure the adequate aeration of the mass for obtaining a more stable
and mature compost, reducing composting time.
• Co-composting solid pig fraction with a vegetal waste will produce compost with high fertiliser properties.
• NIR Spectroscopy will be a great tool to predict the full characterisation of the compost produced.
Results
Table 1. Physico-chemical and chemical characteristics of the input materials and of the mixtures of FSF and SSF and different
bulking agents at the beginning and at the end of the self-heating test experiment.
Maize stalks+FSF Barley straw+FSF Cotton gin+FSF
Cotton Maize Barley Garden
Slurry FSF
gin
stalk straw pruning
Gas emissions
Density
Gradient
Figure 1. Pile settlement scheme showing
how gas emissions, leaching, particles
reorientation and biodegradation affects the
density of the pile.
SLF
pH
6.97 6.31 7.47 6.50 7.82 7.35 8.24 7.77
EC
mS/cm 7.15 4.81 3.89 3.40 32.00 1.26 2.80 30.30
Moisture %
13.89 8.83 9.52 53.76 91.43 76.51 83.64 97.50
OM
%
87.90 91.70 93.10 92.70 72.44 69.35 79.46 51.87
DM
%
86.11 85.80 92.10 46.24 8.57 23.49 16.36 2.50
TOC
%
41.11 46.20 47.10 46.22 3.66 33.46 38.46 0.69
Cotton gin+SSF
Garden
pruning+SSF
Initial
Final
Initial
Final
Initial
Final
Initial
Final
Initial
Final
Initial
Final
7.16
4.18
69.44
72.50
30.56
32.71
7.40
4.72
60.04
72.82
39.96
33.06
7.45
4.10
69.75
73.73
30.25
35.01
7.28
5.45
74.22
71.73
25.78
37.23
7.70
4.88
65.11
77.70
34.89
32.36
7.73
6.17
69.78
73.15
30.22
36.98
7.16
4.44
68.71
76.17
31.29
37.04
7.66
4.50
57.95
73.03
42.05
34.33
8.01
2.67
76.21
80.62
23.79
41.72
7.98
2.11
76.23
78.63
23.77
40.30
8.25
2.22
74.71
84.02
25.29
35.34
8.03
1.79
77.14
81.91
22.86
41.18
CW
%
-
-
-
-
0.02
0.77
3.39
0.02
0.90
0.65
0.98
1.25
2.19
1.06
2.22
0.94
2.77
2.38
2.75
2.29
TN
%
0.51
0.74
0.78
1.26
0.44
1.90
2.23
0.56
1.53
1.78
1.45
1.44
2.01
2.01
1.68
1.25
2.78
2.74
2.07
2.38
-
-
-
-
5385 11895 15450 6341
353
144
368
111
271
73
334
139
1043
259
977
300.48
20.89
23.47
23.82
24.77
15.88
19.73
21.69
27.66
14.47
14.70
16.27
17.48
N-NH4+ mg/kg
Leaching
SSF
Garden
pruning+FSF
C/N
81.23 62.40 60.40 36.85
8.23 10.84 10.19
1.24
FSF – On Farm Separated solid Fraction; SSF – Manually Separated Solid Fraction; LSF – Separated Liquid Fraction; EC – Electrical Conductivity; OM – Organic Matter; DM – Dry Matter; TOC – Total Organic Carbon; CW
– Water soluble Carbon; TN – Total Nitrogen; N-NH4+ - Nitrogen from Ammonium; C/N – Carbon/Nitrogen ratio
Research plan
Figure 2. Temperature evolution from the self-heating test of mixtures with FSF (A) and SSF (B) and several bulking agents
in a laboratory composting simulator.
T (ºC)
• Characterisation of the input materials.
T (ºC)
Pressure
• Task 1: Biodegradability, calibration tests and small scale
composting.
• Task 1.1. Determine the CO2 emission of the solid
fraction of pig slurry in the lab, to assess its
biodegradability.
• Task 1.2. Laboratory composting experiments in 5L
reactors.
• Task 1.3. Influence assessment of density and
porosity on composting of solid phase of pig slurry in
5L reactors
29
using
B
27
q= 435 KJ
23
25
23
21
21
19
q= 98KJ
17
q= 166 KJ
q= 527 KJ
19
17
15
15
13
13
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
0
1
Maize Stalks
Garden prunings
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
10
11
Time (days)
Time (days)
Cotton gin
Cotton gin
Barley Straw
Garden pruning
Texternal
Figure 3. Temperature evolution from the composting piles of
mixtures with solid fraction of pig slurry and cotton gin in a
static pile system with forced aeration at temperature demand.
T(ºC)
70
Table 2. CO2-C emission values from microbial activity of the
mixtures at the beginning and at the end of 15 days
laboratory composting self-heating tests (mg CO2-C/g DM in
10-d). Mean ± Standard deviation (n=3).
60
50
B
40
Maize stalks
+FSF
Barley
straw + FSF
Cotton gin
+ FSF
Pruning +
FSF
Cotton gin
+ SFF
Pruning +
SFF
Initial
12.1±3.56
17.8±1.34
26.7±6.99
24.2±2.21
31.4±1.76
33.6±1.87
End
12.6±1.35
15.6±3.79
15.6±3.59
10.8±0.16
27.9±0.39
32.1±1.56
30
• Task 3: Agronomic value tests.
• Task 3.1. Availability of N from compost and
implication of compost application in the soil C.
• Task 3.2. Use of compost as organic fertiliser for
organic agriculture.
• Task 3.3. Use of compost as substrate.
compost
31
29
25
A
of
A
27
Mixture
• Task 2: Pilot scale composting.
• Task 2.1. Evolution of the Temperature and gaseous
emissions of the pile.
• Task 2.2. Quality assessment of the compost produced.
• Task 4: Characterisation
Spectroscopy.
33
20
10
0
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
97
Time (days)
Pile A
Pile B
Texternal
OUTPUTS:
• Poster presentation “CO2 EMISSIONS DURING CO-COMPOSTING OF THE SOLID FRACTION OF PIG SLURRY”
in the II Workshop REMEDIA (Zaragoza, Spain);
• Santos, A., Bustamante, M.A., Moral, R., Bernal, M.P. (2013) CO2 EMISSIONS DURING CO-COMPOSTING OF
THE SOLID FRACTION OF PIG SLURRY. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change (Submitted).
NIR
Funded by the
European Union
Individual results and impacts
• Individual results - secondments/deliverables/outreach/dissemination:
‐
‐
‐
Denmark (KU): Jan-April 2014; Portugal (ISA): Sept-Dec 2014.
Poster presentation at the II Workshop REMEDIA (Zaragoza, Spain).
Paper: CO2 emissions during co-composting of the solid fraction of pig slurry. Mitigation
and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change (submitted).
• Impact of work in the project:
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
‐
Skills improvement/techniques/knowledge acquired during the project
Independency in most of Lab work, experimental design, compost evaluation. Gaseous
emission sampling and analysis. Statistical data evaluation.
Spanish language, time management and group work.
Future: How will participation in RUW improve your career perspectives? What will you
do after the project?
Education in a excellence program.
Opportunities to collaborate with other scientific groups.
Create a greater scientific network, more specific for my area.
Possibility of performing a scientific carrier by a Post Doc position in a Marie Currie
Action.