Biological compost stability influences odor molecules production measured by electronic nose during food-waste high-rate composting

Composting is a technique that is used to convert organic waste into agriculturally useful products. Composting is an aerobic, solid-state biological process, which typically can be divided into two phases, a high-rate composting phase and a curing phase. High-rate composting plays an important role during the composting process, owing to the high microbial activity occurring during this phase. It requires an accurate plant design to prevent the formation of anaerobic conditions and odors. The formation of anaerobic conditions mainly depends on the rate of O-2 consumption needed to degrade the substrate, i.e., the biological stability of the substrate. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the biological activity, measured by the dynamic respiration index (DRI) and the odor molecules production, measured by an electronic nose (EN) during two food-waste high-rate composting processes. Although the O-2 concentration in the biomass free air space (FAS) was kept optimal (O-2 > 140 ml l(-1), v/v) during composting, strong anaerobic conditions developed. This was indicated by the high levels of sulfur compounds, methane, and hydrogen in the outlet air stream. Both the high level of O-2 consumption, needed to degrade the high-degradable water-soluble organic matter and the low water O-2 solubility, caused by high temperature reached in this stage (up to 60 degrees C), led to the anaerobic conditions observed in the biofilm-particle level. The application of the partial least square (PLS) analysis demonstrated a good regression between the DRI and the odor molecules produced that was detected by the EN (R-2 = 0.991; R-CV(2) = 0.990), signifying the usefulness of the DRI as a parameter to estimate the potential production of odor molecules of the biomass. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.