Stabilization of anarobic digestor sludge through vermicomposting
Article Main
Abstract
In this study, efficiency of vermitechnology in stabilizing sludge without pre-treatment was studied. The sludge was directly introduced in the vermicomposting reactors after their withdrawal from the bio-methanation reactor installed for experimentation on domestic waste. One Liter (5% TS) sludge was loaded after every fourth day and it was discontinued after sixteen days. However, the chemical analysis of the compost was done till twentyfourth day. The present study also evaluated the potential of one indigenous Perionyx excavates (P.e.) and one exotic epigeic earthworm species Eisenia fetida (E.f). The results clearly elucidate that vermireactor with indigenous earthworms (P.e) gives over all comparable similar results with world wide known exotic species (E.f). The results of the study show a significant reduction in initial C/N ratio from an initial value of 19 to 9 for all reactors with earthworms, total organic matter (TOC) reduced by 50% and pH also reduced nearer to neutral, but increase in, total nitrogen (TN) 95%, NH4+-N reduced from 0.52% to 0.31% and NO3-N increased from 0 to 0.13%, total phosphorus (TP) increased from the initial concentration of 0.76% to 1.31%., However, removal efficiency of Fecal coliforms (indicator organism) in the prepared vermicompost through P.e and E.f was in the 6 log and 7 log (MPN/gm) respectively.
Article Details
Article Details
Earthworm, Eisenia fetida, Perionyx excavatus and Sludge vermitechnology
APHA (2005). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater (21st Edn.). Washington, D.C.: American Public Health Association.
Benitez, E. , Nogales, R., Elvira, C., Masciandaro, G. and Ceccanti, C. B. (1999). Enzyme activities as indicators of the stabilization of sewage sludge composting with Eisenia fetida. Bioresource Technology, 67: 297-303.
Dominguez, J., Edwards, C.A. and Ashby, J. (2001). The biology and population dynamics of Eudriluseugeniae (Kinberg) (Oligochaeta) in cattle waste solids . Pedobiologia, 45: 341-353.
Datar, M.T., Rao, M.N. and Reddy, S. (1997). Vermicomposting-a technological option for solid waste management. J. Solid Waste Technol. Manag., 24 : 89–93.
Edwards, C.A. and Bohlen, P.J. (1996). Biology and Ecology of Earthworms. Chapman and Hall, London, UK.
Edwards, C.A. and Bater, J.E. (1992). The use of earthworms in environmental management. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 24:1683-1689.
Elvira, C., Goicoechea, M., Sampdro, L., Mato, S. and Nogales R. (1996). Bioconversion of solid paper-pulp mill sludge by earthworms. Bioresource Technology, 75: 173–177.
Gupta, R. and Garg, V. K. (2008). Stabilization of primary sewage sludge during vermicomposting. J. Hazard. Mater., 153 (3) : 1023–1030.
Khwairakpam, M. and Bhargava R. (2009). Vermitechnology for sewage sludge recycling. Journal of Hazard. Mater., 161: 948-954.
Kaviraj and Sharma, S. (2003). Municipal solid waste management through vermi-compostingemploying exotic and local species of earthworms. Bioresource Technology, 90: 169–173.
Lazcano, C., Gómez-Brandón, M. and Domínguez, J. (2008). Comparison of the effectiveness of composting and vermicomposting for the biological stabilization of cattle manure. Chemosphere, 72 : 1013–1019
Monson, C.C. and Murugappan, A. (2010). Combined thermophilic composting and vermicomposting in the bioconversion of vegetable market waste. Int. J. Appl. Eng. Res., 5 (5), 785–794.
Mupondi, L.T., Mnkeni, P.N.S and Muchaonyerwa, P. (2010). Effectiveness of combined thermophilic composting and vermicomposting on biodegradation and sanitization of mixtures of dairy manure and waste paper. Afr. J. Biotechnol., 9 (30) : 4754–4763.
Ndegwa, P.M. and Thompson, S.A. (2001). Integrating composting and vermicomposting in the treatment and bioconversion of biosolids. Bioresour. Technol., 76 (2): 107–112.
Nair, J., Sekiozoic, V. and Anda, M. (2006). Effect of precomposting on vermicompostingof kitchen waste. Bioresour. Technol., 97: 2091–2095.
Ndegwa, P.M. and Thompson, S.A. (2000a). Effect of Cto- N ratio on vermicomposting of biosolids. Bioresource Technology, 75(1): 7-12.
Rajpal, A., Bhargava, R., Sasi, S.K. and Chopra, A. K. (2011). Onsite domestic organic waste treatment through vermitechnology using indigenous earthworm species. J. Waste Management and Research, 1-10, DOI:10.1177/0734242X 11403798.
Suthar, S. (2009). Vermistabilization of municipal sewage sludge amended with sugarcane trash using epigeic Eisenia fetida (Oligochaeta). J. Hazard. Mater., 163 : 199-206.
Suthar, S. and Singh, S. (2008). Feasibility of vermicomposting in biostabilization of sludge from a distillery industry. Sci. Total Environ. 394 (2–3) : 237–243.
Tiquia, S.M. and Tam, N.F.Y. (2000). Fate of nitrogen during composting of chicken litter. Environmental Pollution, 110:535-541.
Tognetti, C., Mazzarino, M.J. and Laos, F. (2007). Cocomposting biosolids and municipal organic waste: effects of process management on stabilization and quality. Biol. Fertil. Soils, 43 : 387–397.
Viel, M., Sayag, D. and Andre, L. (1987). Optimisation of agricultural, industrial waste management through invessel composting. In: de Bertoldi, M. (Ed.), Compost: Production, Quality and Use. Elseiver Appl. Sci. Essex: 230–237.
Wang, P., Changa, C. M. , Watson, M. E., Dick, W. A., Chen, Y. and Hoitink, H. A. J. (2004). Maturity indices for composted dairy and pig manures. Soil Biol.and Biochem., 36: 767- 776.
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) © Author (s)
