Title: Extent and rate of biodegradation of different organic components in municipal solid waste

Authors: Prashanth Kandakatla; Bandana Mahto; Sudha Goel

Addresses: Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India ' Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India ' Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

Abstract: Rates and extent of biodegradability of four different organic components of municipal solid waste (leaf litter, newspaper, magazine paper and A4 sheet) were evaluated under optimum conditions. Total solids (TS) removals in biotic samples ranged from 74.7% to 78.8% while volatile solids removals ranged from 75.7% to 84.8%. Significant biodegradation of tannin-lignin was observed for all four components and removals ranged from 53% to 79.5%. Biodegradation rates were measured for all components and were found to fit second-order kinetics best. Biodegradation rate constants for all biotic samples ranged from 0.0317 to 0.0352 L/g-d. Control samples that had been autoclaved initially had higher biodegradation rates ranging from 0.0303 to 0.0537 L/g-d.

Keywords: biodegradation rate; municipal solid waste; MSW; organic components; newspaper; magazine paper; paper sheets; leaf litter; tannin-lignin; kinetics; volatile solids; total solids; anaerobic; optimum.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2013.054262

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2013 Vol.11 No.4, pp.350 - 364

Received: 12 May 2011
Accepted: 12 May 2012
Published online: 20 Sep 2014 *

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