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Description
The main objective of the research will be to develop the technology of biochar production and dosing for the composting process of bio-waste, to reduce harmful emissions (CO2, CH4, H2S, NH3,CO). Second goal will be improve the bio-waste composting process, produce high quality compost (CompoChar) and reduce the carbon footprint. A technology for the production of biochar with high gaseous sorption properties and will be proposed. The use of the technology will allow reduction of costs related to the treatment of composting process gas, which the installation has to remove. Those gases are also harmful to the environment, odor-generating and dangerous for composting plant employees. The advantages of the proposed solution are:
- reducing the emission of harmful gases: CO2, CH4, H2S, NH3, CO at least 25%
- shortening the composting process by 7 days and increasing the fertilizing properties of the compost
- increasing the economic benefits – reduce the amount of gases which need to be cleaning
- extending the duration of the thermophilic phase, which will allow for greater hygiene of CompoChar
- closing the chain of the production and recycling cycle by using compost for the production of biochar
The presented technology will be possible to implement in bio-waste treatment plants as an alternative technology for reducing gaseous emissions. In addition, the new technology may constitute an attractive market complement to the currently used methods for intensifying the processing of bio-waste, used for facilitating the work of composting plants in difficult operating conditions.
Summary of project results
The main objective of the research was to develop the technology of biochar production and dosing for the composting process of bio-waste, to reduce harmful emissions (CO2, CH4, H2S, NH3, CO). Second goal was to improve the bio-waste composting process, produce high quality compost (CompoChar) and reduce the carbon footprint. A technology for the production of biochar with high gaseous sorption properties was going to be proposed. The use of the technology will allow reduction of costs related to the treatment of composting process gas, which the installation has to remove. Those gases are also harmful to the environment, odor-generating and dangerous for composting plant employees. The advantages of the proposed solution are: reducing the emission of harmful gases: CO2, CH4, H2S, NH3, CO at least 25% - shortening the composting process by 7 days and increasing the fertilizing properties of the compost, increasing the economic benefits, reduce the amount of gases which need to be cleaning, extending the duration of the thermophilic phase, which will allow for greater hygiene of CompoChar, closing the chain of the production and recycling cycle by using compost for the production of biochar The presented technology will be possible to implement in bio-waste treatment plants as an alternative technology for reducing gaseous emissions. In addition, the new technology may constitute an attractive market complement to the currently used methods for intensifying the processing of bio-waste, used for facilitating the work of composting plants in difficult operating conditions.
The result presented in WP1 shows a big potential for use compost biochar as a gas absorber from gases released during biowaste treatment, especially in term of capacity - tested biochars shows a extreme potential sorption capacity, despite the low specific surface area (SSA).
WP2 bring the new knowledge in content of use a composts biochar for increasing the compost properties (macrooelements like K, Mg, Cu) and effective reduction of released gases (reduction CO2: -48% for 9% d.m. biochar addition; NH3: -93% for 9% d.m. biochar addition respectively; CO: -67; 6% d.m. biochar addition; H2S: -76% for 6% d.m. biochar addition). As a final results of WP2, the mathematical models decribing the relation beetwen emissions and biochar addition were develop, with hight application potencial (R2>0.7). For the first time, the ML models to predict CO and H2S during composting were demonstrated. For each emission, the best results (R2≥0.7) were observed for the Bayesian Regularized Neural Network, comparably good performance was also characteristic of RPART.
The work obtained with WP3, confirmed the possibility of increasing the fertilizing value of the obtained compost, shortening the composting time by at least 5 days, without reducing the value of the obtained product - Compochar.
The project entitled CompoChar, filled the niche between the combination of biological and thermal waste treatment (bioecenomy approach). The project demonstrated that it is possible to effectively use a compost biochar as a gas absorber (WP1), composting improver (WP2, WP3), and also odor elimination supplement (WP3). The project demonstrated that it is possible to effectively combine the addition of compost''s biochar (produced in temperature 550°C) to biowaste during composting which resulted in:
- increasing the fertilizing value of the obtained compost, (statistically important for K, Mg, Cu, Mn)
- shortening the composting time by at least 5 days, without reducing the value of the obtained product,
- obtaining valuable mathematical models describing the relationship between the application of compost''s biochar and the emissions (CO2, CO, H2S, and NH3) obtained during composting.
Additional goals that were achieved during the project are:
- reducing the odor of the composting process (results confirming the VOC content are being determined),
- increasing the stability of the process in terms of supplying oxygen to the composting process,
- increasing the total temperature and temperature stability of the process.
All of the presented results show that the use of compost''s biochar can be a good alternative for developing and optimization the composting process.