Characterization, utility, and interrelationship of household organic waste generation in academic campus for the production of biogas and compost: a case study

This case study presents the experimental outcomes of a zero organic waste campus. Three hundred fifty families live on this academic campus, whose solid wastes from their homes were not being properly segregated. For easy segregation, 750 dustbins of two types (labeled as organic and inorganic waste) were distributed in the canteen, mess, and all residential apartments, holding capacity up to 13 kg of garbage. A total of 24 sample sets of household organic waste were studied in 12 months period with a sample size of 1620 waste bags. Seventy-three types of organic waste were found to be 518.53, 263.57, and 249.94 kg, respectively, in the form of raw vegetable waste (RVW), fruit waste (FW), and mixed cooked waste (MCW). Regression method is applied, and the result suggests that the coefficient of determination (R-2) of these variables (RVW, FW), (RVW, MCW), and (FW, MCW) was observed to be 0.90, 0.91, and 0.94, respectively, with p < 0.05. Compostable and digestible wastes demonstrate the great potential to generate compost and biogas, and each compostable waste contains nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), which are essential for the overall growth of plants. Our present study demonstrated that one ton of digested waste collected from the academic campus and transferred in the biogas plant could generate 50 m(3) of biogas/day, which can produce 160 kW of green electric energy and 200 kg of organic compost.

Automated summary

This case study presents the experimental outcomes of a zero organic waste campus, where proper segregation and treatment of organic waste lead to the generation of compost and biogas, providing essential nutrients for plant growth.