Authors : Juplin Kinti, Lydia Dundun Francis and Sunita Jobli
Abstract: Biocompost is an organic matter that has been decomposed under a controlled aerobic condition to produce materials that used for an agriculture sector. It is used either as a fertilizer or soil amendment. Compare to chemical fertilizer, biocompost have advantages in term of releasing nutrients, improving the structure of the soil, the ability to hold water and nutrients, the risk of toxic build-ups and environmentally friendly. The objectives of this study were to determine the temperature profile of composting with the addition of biochar and without biochar and also to determine the oxygen content and the ratio of carbon and nitrogen. Composting experiment was conducted by mixing food waste and biochar with the ratio of 3:1 with a total weight of approximately 4 kg. Samples from compost bioreactor were taken within the period of time namely day 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th. This study had been revealed that the addition of biochar for composting will rapidly increase the temperature to achieve the thermophilic phase at the maximum temperature was approximately 56.0°C within 5 days. C/N ratio and oxygen also increase with the range 30.85-42.07 and 37.78-52.28%, respectively. Hence, biochar can be one of the most effective additives to optimize the production of biocompost.
Juplin Kinti, Lydia Dundun Francis and Sunita Jobli, 2019. The Effectiveness of Biochar in Composting of Food Waste. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 14: 6106-6109.