Elimination of hydrogen sulphide from odorous air by a wood bark biofilter

Wood bark, used as biofilter material, gives less back pressure than fibre peat or household compost and is therefore cheaper in variable costs than the other materials. With a filter bed height of 0.9 m and with a surface load of 65 m³ m⁻² h⁻¹, 10 ppm hydrogen sulphide is efficiently eliminated from odorous air by a wood bark biofilter. The most important parameter for a good functioning of the filter is the water content of the filter material. The optimum for wood bark is about 65%. Unnecessarily high back pressures are recorded during sprinkling water on top of the filter. Therefore, it seems preferable to condition the relative humidity of air entering the filter. If absorption and adsorption were the only factors in the biofilter mechanism, hydrogen sulphide would, in the given circumstances, break through after about 7 h. It is shown that hydrogen sulphide is oxidized to sulphate. According to literature data, chemical oxidation is too slow and therefore hydrogen sulphide oxidation in the biofilter is attributed to microbiological action.     

Oxygen limitation in static respiration activity index test

The static respiration activity index test was designed to assess the biodegradability (or biostability) of compost samples by monitoring their oxygen consumption rate under cultivation conditions. However, as revealed in this study, the measured activity index correlated not only with the biochemical characteristics of the tested sample but also with the operational conditions, including sample quantity, sample moisture content and cultivation temperature. It was speculated that this observation could be attributed to the limited oxygen transport to the sample. Hence the oxygen transport and consumption in the tested sample were modelled using a one‐dimensional, pseudo‐steady state model to estimate the relative significance of mass transfer resistance to the bioreaction rate. A so‐called critical thickness of the sample, above which mass transfer resistance became significant, was identified and assessed under various experimental conditions. The possible oxygen limitation for the static respiration test to estimate the activity index of compost samples was critically assessed. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

The relationship between compost bedded pack performance,management, and bacterial counts

The objective of this study was to assess the relationships among temperature, moisture, carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio, space per cow, and bacterial counts from bedding material collected from compost bedded pack (CBP) barns. A field survey of 42 routinely aerated CBP barns was conducted in Kentucky between October 2010 and March 2011. Two bedding material samples of 1,064.7 cm³ each were collected during a single site visit from 9 evenly distributed locations throughout each barn and thoroughly mixed to create a composite sample representative of the entire CBP. Bacterial counts were determined for coliforms, Escherichia coli, streptococci, staphylococci, and Bacillus spp. University of Kentucky Regulatory Services (Lexington) laboratory personnel performed nutrient analyses to determine moisture, carbon, and nitrogen contents. Surface and 10.2-cm pack depth temperatures were collected for each of the 9 evenly distributed locations and the mean calculated to produce a composite temperature. Space per cow was calculated as the total CBP area divided by number of cows housed on the CBP. The GLM procedure of SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) generated models to describe factors affecting bacterial counts. Bacterial counts were 6.3 ± 0.6, 6.0 ± 0.6, 7.2 ± 0.7, 7.9 ± 0.5, and 7.6 ± 0.5 log₁₀ cfu/g of dry matter for coliform, Escherichia coli, streptococci, staphylococci, and Bacillus spp., respectively. Composite temperature, CBP moisture, C:N ratio, and space per cow had no effect on coliform counts. Escherichia coli reached a peak concentration when the C:N ratio was between 30:1 and 35:1. Staphylococci counts increased as ambient temperature increased. Streptococci counts decreased with increased space per cow and composite temperature and increased with increasing ambient temperature and moisture. Streptococci counts peaked at a C:N ratio ranging from 16:1 to 18:1. Bacillus spp. counts were reduced with increasing moisture, C:N ratio, and ambient temperature. Mastitis-causing bacteria thrive in similar conditions to that of composting bacteria and microbes, making elimination of these at higher temperatures (55 to 65°C) difficult in an active composting environment. Producers must use recommended milking procedures and other preventative practices to maintain low somatic cell count in herds with a CBP barn.     

Utilization Potential of Brewery Waste Water Sludge as an Organic Fertilizer

Brewery waste water sludge (BWS) is produced as the result of aerobic biological treatment of brewery effluent. Analysis of this waste material revealed that it contained valuable nutrients for plant growth with high water retention. Germination and plant growth trials were carried out with chili and pumpkin. The potential of applying sun dried brewery waste water sludge and admixing with two different types of compost were evaluated and outlined in this paper.     

Effects of pretreatment method of natural bacteria source on microbial community and bio-hydrogen production by dark fermentation

The effects of pretreatment method of cow dung compost, which was employed as natural hydrogen bacteria source, on the microbial community, population distribution of microbes and hydrogen production potential were investigated in the batch tests. The maximum hydrogen yield of 290.8 mL/L-culture appeared in the pretreated method A (infrared drying) by dark fermentation. The pretreated method of compost significantly affected microbial succession, population distribution of microbes. Both Clostridium sp. and Enterobacter sp. were found to be two species of preponderant hydrogen-producing bacteria, the next best was Bacteroides sp. and Veillonella sp., the last was Lactobacillus sp. and Streptococcus sp., which were also essential. The results showed that the mutualism and symbiosis relations of the mixed bacteria played a critical role in hydrogen fermentation process.     

Fermentative bio-hydrogen production from cellulose by cow dung compost enriched cultures

The performance of hydrogen production from cellulose by the cow dung compost enriched continuously in defined medium containing cellulose was investigated. In the initial experiments, batch-fermentation was carried out to observe the effects of different substrate concentration conditions on the rate of cellulose-degrading, growth of bacteria and the capability of hydrogen-producing from cellulose. The result showed that the cellulose degradation decreased from 55% at 5 g/l to 22% at 30 g/l. The maximum cumulative hydrogen production and the rate of hydrogen production first increased from 828 ml/l at 5 g/l to 1251 ml/l at 10 g/l then remained constant beyond 10 g/l. The maximum hydrogen production potential, the rate of hydrogen production and the yield of hydrogen was 1525 ml/l, 33 ml/l.h, and 272 ml/g-cellulose (2.09 mol/mol-hexose) was obtained at substrate concentration 10 g/l, the hydrogen concentration in biogas was 47–50%(v/v) and there was no methane observed. During the conversion of cellulose into hydrogen, acetate and butyrate were main liquid end-products in the metabolism of hydrogen fermentation. These results proposed that cow dung compost enriched cultures were ideal microflora for hydrogen production from cellulose.     

市政污泥好氧堆肥处理影响因素的实验研究

为避免污泥产生的二次污染及充分利用污泥中的有效成分,对污泥进行堆肥处理是较好的污泥处理方法.考察了污泥含固率和pH值对污泥堆肥过程的影响.结果表明,污泥可堆肥的舍固率范围为25%～75%,最佳含固率为35%;可堆肥pH值为5.3～8.5.最佳pH值为7.4～8.3.     

用工农业废料配制的两种堆肥培育观赏植物

由工农业废料配制的两种堆肥作为试验用的基质:C1——酿造啤酒等废料(酵母和麦芽)加修剪下的柠檬树枝;C2——橄榄研磨厂废水的固体级分加橄榄树叶。以每种堆肥与泥炭藓泥炭或商品基质(CS)按不同的比例混合,可配制成16种基质。尽管基质的物理和理化特性例如总孔隙度和电导率(EC)都是合适的,但由堆肥提供的养分(氮和钾)释放缓慢,对金盏花发育的影响尤为明显。另一方面,由于对盐分含量敏感,EC和氯化物浓度是影响蒲包草生长的主要因素。为供金盏花发育的适宜的基质可以通过含量高达75?与泥炭或高达50?与CS混合,以及高达50?与泥炭或CS混合使用。对蒲包花来说,基质中堆肥比例应较低,可用50?与泥炭或CS混合,也可以用25?与泥炭或CS混合使用。因此,只要基质至少含有25%的泥炭或CS,源于工农业废料的堆肥可作为培育观赏植物的泥炭和CS的替代品。