Repositorio
Institucional

Zambrano Riquelme, Marcia

Rodriguez-Luna, Dante

Alcala, Francisco Javier

Rubilar, Olga

Alvear, Marysol

Encina-Montoya, Francisco

Vidal, Gladys

Composting as an Alternative for the Treatment of Solid Waste from the Kraft Pulp Industry

MDPI

AGRONOMY-BASEL

en

The increasing industrial pulp production has led to a negative growth of the associated solid wastes, thus making necessary alternative ways of handling them in suitable sanitary landfills to minimize adverse effects on the environment and well-being of people. Solid waste treatment prior to its disposal is a target to minimize pollution of the natural resources (air, soil, water) due to accidental leaching. This paper aims to determine better experimental conditions in the container to develop an optimal composting design for pulp solid wastes. For this, an experimental methodology is introduced. This paper presents the results about the influence of independent control variables (grits addition and composting process time) on dependent variables (chemical and biological), for which a composting design was used, and a face-centered central composite factor was applied. The results showed mature compost over 60-day treatment, with the following experimental observations (i) the grits addition did not decrease the pH in the first stage of the composting process, and (ii) the microbial activities were high during the active stage of the composting progress and evolved to stable, lower values together with a proper trend of N-NH4+ and N-NO3- at the end. Grits addition of around 6% is the optimal experimental amount to use for the composting process of the secondary sludge from the Kraft mill industry. In conclusion, treating secondary sludges and grit residues from the Kraft mill industry to produce compost is feasible and sustainable. This action reduces the environmental pollution risk (evidenced by soil pH change and possible water pollution) and improves the soil assimilation capability of inorganic micronutrients and organic compounds after application. Thus, the controlled waste reuse will pass from a negative input to the environment to a positive, sustainable solution, which can be used as a soil-nutrient improver in agriculture.

2023

artículo original

10.3390/agronomy13041099

PDF

grits

composting process

kraft mill

soil improver

Agricultura

Ciencias Vegetales

sémola

proceso de compostaje

fábrica de papel kraft

mejorador del suelo

artículo original

versión publicada

CC BY 4.0

CC BY 4.0

acceso abierto

acceso abierto

WOS:000979622500001

verde# dorado

Agricultura

Ciencias Vegetales

UFRO EP-DI14-0079