Compost Maturity Assessment Using Calorimetry, Spectroscopy and Chemical Analysis

This work is aimed at characterizing compost maturity and, organic matter transformation during this process, by the use of nondestructive spectroscopic and thermal techniques, together with some chemical analysis. Composting was conducted in a laboratory over a period of one year using the organic fraction of domestic wastes, fresh farmyard manure, spent coffee and sawdust as the raw materials. Samples were retired after different periods of composting and were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as well as by routine chemical parameters including temperature, pH, C/N, ash content and humic-like substances content. Results showed that in case of domestic wastes, spent coffee and farmyard manure, the C/N ratios, ash and humic acid content showed a typical high rate of change during the first 197 days of composting and tended to stabilize thereafter, probably as a result of the maturity of the produced composts. In contrast, sawdust underwent only a very limited transformation even after one year of composting. Thermoanalytical and spectroscopic data confirms these finding and gives useful and complementary information with respect to the structure, the heterogeneity and the relative stability of the compost products. In particular, as the decomposition proceeded, there was an increase in aromatic to aliphatic structure ratio and a decrease in the importance of peptide structures of composts. Besides, both the spectroscopic and the thermal behavior of compost samples, retired beyond 197 days of composting, tended to be regular, less dependent on the raw material and close to that characterizing mature composts, with the exception of sawdust samples. We concluded that the spectroscopic and thermal techniques used are complementary to one another and to chemical tests and could be a powerful and fast approach for the study of compost maturity.