Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 1(12), pp. 49-59, 2012 Available online at http://www.cjasr.

com ISSN: 2251-9114, 2012 CJASR

Full Length Research Paper Effect of Manual Turning Frequency on Physico-Chemical Parameters During the Oil Palm Frond and Cow Dung Composting
Mohammadtaghi Vakili1*, Abu Ahmed Mokammel Haque1*, Zahra Gholami2
*School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia 2 School of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia *Corresponding Author: Abu Ahmed Mokammel Haque, Email: cehaque_aam@eng.usm.my, , Mohammadtaghi Vakili, Email: farshid3601@gmail.com,
Received 29 August 2012; Accepted 17 October 2012
1

This study aims at investigating the efficiency of oil palm frond composting, by the manual turning in different treatments. Oil palm frond (OPF) and cow dung, mixed at a 3:1 ratio, with 60% (w/v) moisture content, was set up in bin composting. The process was done for 60 days through manual turning system by hand at intervals of once and twice every 10 days during the composting process. The composting activity of both treatments throughout the composting period was measured by several parameters such as temperature, moisture content, organic matter and total organic carbon (TOC). Both treatments showed approximately similar results in temperature, pH and electrical conductivity (EC) during the process. An Increase in total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) in turning twice treatment (T1) was partially faster than the other treatment. Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio (C/N) in both treatments decreased with time and reached the optimum range for mature compost at the end of process. Results represent that T1 is an alternative method for the composting process. Key words: Composting, Oil palm frond, Manual turning, Cow dung, C/N ratio

1. INTRODUCTION In recent centuries, world population growth, urbanization, industrialization, agricultural activities and using resources to make better and suitable life have generated a large amount of waste (Semple et al., 2001). A high percentage of this waste, is released to water, air and soil which endanger environment and human life (Giuntini et al., 2006; Semple et al., 2001; Ahmad et al., 2007). Contemporarily, managing these wastes is an important concern in communities, Therefore, reusing these wastes, by transforming them into the beneficial end products, is an effective way in waste management (Mohee et al., 2008; Larney and Hao, 2007). In this regard, composting is an environmentally friendly and an economical method in organic waste managing utilizing them to produce utilizable materials (Mohee et al., 2008; An et al., 2012). It can be described as an aerobic biological process in which organic wastes are transformed to simpler, stable and soil-like compounds and reduce the volume of the wastes by the activities of microorganisms (Semple et al.,

2001; Schaub and Leonard, 1996, Khalil et al., 2008 ; Zhu et al., 2004 ). The mature compost is used as an organic fertilizer with positive effects on soil and environment (Szanto et al., 2007). It leads to an increase in the amount of agricultural production due to the high amount of nutrient in compost and moisture-holding as well as improving the aeration and soil structure (Huang et al., 2004). Composting is an aerobic process, and aeration is a key factor for that. Suitable aeration controls the temperature, removes excessive moisture and CO2 and provides O2 for the biological processes (Bernal et al., 2009). Microorganisms use O2 as the final electron acceptor in the oxidizing reactions of organic matter. Therefore, composting process needs aeration to provide adequate oxygen for biodegradation, pathogen destruction and organic matter stabilization. Limited supply of O2 in a sample has been found to lead to lower temperatures and reduced microbial activities. on the other hand, more aeration rate, can make the compost cool and thus, microbial activity will decline (Ogunwande and Osunade, 2011). Like temperature, enough aeration

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rates depend on the particle size, and turning the material. These elements are necessary for the growth of microorganisms and the maintenance of adequate porosity for aeration. Particles must be suitable in size since compost with large particles does not decompose adequately and too small particles are not desired because they can compact the mass and reduce the porosity (Bernal et al., 2009; Berthe et al., 2007). The most frequently used method for aeration is frequent turning during the composting process; which not only leads to good aeration- because air cannot move and easily reach microorganisms inside the pile, but also turns and exchanges the materials from outside of pile to the centre, where the temperature is higher than in other points of pile (Rynk et al., 1992). Nowadays, in Malaysia, the amount of organic wastes such as agricultural wastes, oil palm industry wastes and animal manure is increasing day by day. Malaysia is one of the biggest producers and exporters of oil palm in the world. Therefore, oil palm industry is one of the main and largest producers of organic waste in this country which is about 90 million tons per year (Singh et al., 2011; Nahrul Hayawin et al., 2010; Erwan et al., 2012). Oil palm frond (OPF) is one of the organic wastes produced in oil palm fields which were previously used in the oil palm production process by burning or leaving in fields. These methods are not only economically affordable, but also cause environmental pollution (Nahrul Hayawin et al., 2010; Baharuddin et al., 2009). Composting OPF is a suitable method to overcome these problems for producing a useful and environmentally friendly product (Erwan et al., 2012). In previous studies the effects of turning on composting of different material have been studied (Kuok et al. 2012; Stanford et al.; 2009). Therefore, the present study reports the results of investigating the effects of turning on composting OPF and analyzing the physico-chemical parameters of the compost. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1. Raw Materials The materials used in this study included OPF and cow dung. The OPF were collected from USM, Engineering Campus, Nibong Tebal, Malaysia. The cow dung was collected from a cow farm in Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.

2.2. Experimental Establishment Fronds were chopped and shredded into small pieces, 6 to 10 cm, to provide a greater surface area between composting material and microorganisms for increasing the rate of degradation and generate more heat (Mohee and Madhu, 2005; et , 2003). Then homogeneously mixed with cow dung at a 3:1 ratio. The moisture content was adjusted to around 60% (w/v) with distilled water before piling, to obtain the OM, MC and C/N ratio in the range of 60%, 40% - 65% and 25 - 30, respectively, to commencement the composting process (Rynk et al., 1992; Kala et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2011). The temperature was measured daily and sampling was done just before turning. Composting was performed in two treatments, i.e. T1 (with turning twice every 10 days) and treatment T2 (with turning once every 10 days), had 3 replications each. Composting was carried out inside barrels of 60 cm diameters and 60 cm height with holes on the side and bottom to provide aeration and out flow of the leachate produced during composting process. 2.3. Analyses of Compost Properties Samples were collected and measured for the chemical properties of the mixture such as pH, EC, TOC and TKN. The pH values of the compost were measured using a pH digital meter (EUTECH, pH 510) (Kala et al., 2009) and an EC meter (VSI, Model 30M, 100FT, USA) in aqueous extract (weight: volume = 1:10) were used to measure the EC of samples during composting process (Bernal et al., 1998). The moisture content (MC) of the raw materials was determined by drying the samples at 105C for 24 hours (Kumar Singh et al., 2009). An adequate volume of water was added at each turning, in order to maintain the MC at around 60-70%. Ash was determined in a muffle furnace at 550C for 24 hours, and organic matter (OM) was calculated as the difference between ash and its dry weight, as a percentage. The TOC of the compost samples was determined using the combustion method. One gram of the sample was placed in a crucible, left into a furnace at 350C for an hour and 550 C for 4 hours. The remaining ash was weighed, and organic C is calculated from the loss in weight during ashing (Kala et al., 2009). In this study, the TKN of the sample was determined using the regular-Kjeldahl method (Roca-Prez, 2009). It was measured by mineralisation within a strong acid medium, containing 98% sulphuric acid, followed by steam

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distillation and titrimetric determination of NH+4/NH3. Organic nitrogen was obtained by subtraction of NH+4/NH3 nitrogen from Kjeldahl nitrogen. Then the C/N ratio was calculated by dividing the TOC content by the TKN content. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Changes in Temperature Temperature is a major key indicator in composting th t indic tes microorg nisms

ctivities nd org nic m ters degr d tion during the composting process. Degradation is speeded up by rising the temperature. Trend of changing the temperature during the composting period, give a description of different stages of composting; initial, mesophilic, and cooling (Tremier et al., 2005; Bernal et al., 2009; Eklind, 1998). The optimum span of temperature for microbial activities is between 40 to 65C, and more than 55C is enough for pathogen destruction during composting (Kala et al., 2009; Saithep et al., 2009).

Fig. 1: Temperature variations in composting during the process, treatment T1= turning twice every 10 days, treatment T2 = turning once every 10 days

The initial temperature in treatment T1 with more turning, 31C, increased rapidly to peak value, and reached the thermophilic temperature in the first week. Then, the temperature decreased to 40C by the 35th day. Afterward, the temperature dropped rapidly to 33C by day 50. After that it was fluctuated in a narrow range (33-31C) till the end of process, day 60. The pattern of temperature change in treatment T2 was alike treatment T1apart from peak value. Temperature in treatment T2 with less turning reached the maximum level, 2 days later than treatment T1. Then it decreased to 43C at day 35 and decreased to 33C by day 50. After day 50, temperature in treatments T1 and T2 decreased steadily almost at the same time to the ambient temperature, 32C by

the 60th day of composting. Due to the decomposition of organic matter by microorg nisms ctivities, temper ture h d sharp increase, and reached the peak values, 60 and 58C in both treatments T1 and T2, respectively, in the first week. Afterwards, due to the low level of biodegradation of materials, the rate of microbial activities declined, and temperature tended to the ambient temperature in both treatments (day 60) (Saithep et al., 2009). Results show, turning did not have profound effects on temperature in treatments T1 and T2; after 3th week the level of temperature in treatment T1 (turning twice every 10 days) was less than treatment T2 (turning once every 10 days), about 2C; due to the more turning in

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treatment T1, however this difference was not very significant during the composting period (60 days). MC is known as one of the essential factors in the composting which affects degradation level of organic matters and makes available a suitable medium for microorganisms to stay alive and their activities (Gajalakshmia and Abbasia, 2008; Zhang et al., 2011). Proportion of moisture losses during the composting process is an indication of disintegration rates (Kalamdhad and Kazmi, 2009). According to previous studies low MC lead to reduce the microorg nisms ctivities nd high MC causes decrease free space among particles; the MC between 40% to 65% is the optimum range for microbial activities (Rynk et al., 1992; El Kader et al., 2008; Gajalakshmi and Abbasi, 2008).

The initial amounts of MC in treatments were about 59 %, which dropped through the process by 27.1% and 20.3% in both treatments T1 and T2, respectively (Fig. 2). This reduction is due to the evaporation of MC inside the materials by produced he t, s microorg nisms ctivities (Ogunwande and Osunade, 2011 ). In this study, results indicate that turning has a significant effect on MC losses. Moisture loss in treatment T1 was pretty more than moisture loss in treatment T2 due to the high level of turning which lead to an increase the losses of MC and nitrogen (NH3) (Kalamdhad and Kazmi, 2009). At the end of the process, the final amounts of MC were 43% in treatment T1 and 47% in treatment T2, which is in the optimum range for mature compost, suggested by Shilev et al. (2007).

Fig. 2: MC variations in composting during the process, treatment T1= turning twice every 10 days, treatment T2 = turning once every 10 days

3.2. OM The organic matter concentration during the process decreased. This reduction is due to the decomposition and use of organic matters as a source of energy by microorganisms to heat, water vapor and CO2 (Gajalakshmia and Abbasia, 2008; Kalamdhad and Kazmi, 2009). In the first week of composting process, the amount of organic matter degradation was higher than that in the rest of process due to the high microbial activities. It was

approximately 14.3% and 11.1% losses in both treatments T1 and T2 respectively, on first week. Afterward, the trend of degradation decreased until the end of process (T1 15% and T2 14% losses) which is because of the low microbial activities (Saludes et al., 2008). The effect of turning on organic matter is shown in Figure 3.In both treatments T1 and T2, the initial organic matter contents decreased from 63% to 38 and 41%, respectively, during the process. The rate of decomposition in treatment T1

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was a little more than in treatment T2 due to more tuning. The total percentages losses of organic matter during the composting process were 39.7% and 34.9% in treatments T1 and T2, respectively. During the first 20 days, it was 28.6% and 20.6%, more than the rest of composting period, 13.6% and 16.3%, respectively, leads to decomposition of

easily biodegradable organic matters. These results show, in general, turning does not have a significant effect on the decomposition of organic matter during the process, and the rates of losses of organic matter are almost the same in both treatments.

Fig. 3: OM variations in composting during the process, treatment T1= turning twice every 10 days, treatment T2 = turning once every 10 days 3.3. pH and EC pH plays an important role in composting to availability of the nutrients for microorganisms (Shilev et al., 2007). In general, organic matters with pH between 3 to 11 are compostable, but 6.5 to 8 is the optimum range for microorganisms effective in composting process (Rynk et al., 1992; Kala et al., 2009). In this experiment, analyzing the data indicates that pH values are affected by turning. The initial pH for both treatment T1 and T2 were 7.2 (Figure 4). The trend of pH in both treatment T1 and T2 was alike during the composting process. The pH of both treatments increased from the initial amount, reached the peak value, and then decreased steadily until the end of composting time. Treatment T1 showed a sharp increase in pH value form the initial pH to the maximum value, 7.2 to 7.77 on day 4, which after that decreased to 7.3 by day 60 at the end of period. Treatment similarly, T2 indicated the initial pH value of 7.2, reached the peak value 7.67 by day 7, then declined to 7.4 at the end of process. Both treatments showed a sharp increase in the first week which is due to the volatilization of ammonia and mineralization of organic matters, resulting from microorg nisms ctivities (Rasapoor et al., 2009; Gajalakshmia and Abbasia, 2008). Afterwards, in the second week the rate of ammonification and mineralization started to slump; then, pH values declined gradually, and reached the 7.3 and 7.4, in treatments T1 and T2, respectively at the end of composting period (day 60). Results show, pH in treatment T1 reached the peak value, on day 4, 3 days before treatment T2, by 7th day, caused by more turning; generally, trend of pH dose not significant affected by turning during the composting time.

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Fig. 4: pH variations in composting during the process, treatment T1= turning twice every 10 days, treatment T2 = turning once every 10 days

The EC in compost represents the amount of salinity, affecting plant growth (Lin, 2008). In general, mature compost with high degree of EC and more than 4 mSm-1, is to be mixed with lower EC composts since it is not suitable for plant growth (Gao et al., 2010). EC values in this experiment are shown in Figure 5. Both treatment T1 and T2 showed similar pattern in EC variation during the composting process, which is alike to the Huang et al. (2004). In both treatments the initial EC were 2.92 mSm-1. EC of treatment T1 had a sharp increase from the beginning of the composting period, reached the highest values, 3.48 mSm-1 (first week), then dropped and reached 2.73 mSm-1 at the end of process (day 60). In treatment T2 the EC trend was similar to the treatment T1 with lower maximum value, 3.39 mSm-1 and final value by 60th day. In both treatments T1 and T2 with unlike turning frequencies, the initial rise is due to weight loss of materials and release of mineral salts through the degradation of organic matters (Gmez-Brandn et al., 2008). Further, reduction was caused by the volatilization of ammonia and the deposit of mineral salts (Wong et al., 1995). The results show, in the first of period treatment T1 with more turning reached the peak value 3 days sooner than treatment T2; at the end of process, the EC values are not very affected by turning and are

approximately same. But they are in the optimum range for mature compost, which is suggested by Shilev et al. (2007) and is to be 4 mSm-1 or less than this amount. 3.4. TOC Fig. 6 indicates the percentages losses of TOC within the composting period. The TOC contents in both treatments T1 and T2, decreased as disintegration process of organic matters by microorganisms and utilization of them as source of energy on the composting process (Kalamdhad and Kazmi, 2009). The initial TOC concentrations in both treatments T1 and T2 were 49% which fell slightly to 32% and 36%, in order, at the end of process. Data show, the rates of decreases in thermophilic phase was more than the curing phase since the level of decomposition was greater in this phase due to the high amount of easily degradable material (Ogunwande and Osunade, 2011 ). The pattern of both treatments was similar, which is like the Tiquia and Tam (1998); in treatment T1 the TOC from the initial amount decreased about 14.9% and reached 41.7% by the day 20. The trend of TOC was like the treatment T1; during the first 20 days of composting process it decreased about 10.2% and reached 44%. Then in both treatment T1 and T2 the TOC continuously declined and

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reached 32% and 36%, respectively, by the day 60. Totally, about 33.33% and 25.92% of TOC was used as a source of energy and released in the form of CO2, heat, CH4 and other volatile organic composition (Guo et al., 2012; Barrington et al., 2002; Said-Pullicino et al., 2007). In this study,

data show, between the two treatments, T1 showed slightly more losses of TOC, 7.41%, caused by more turning, but in general, the effect of turning was not very significant on the TOC losses.

Fig. 5: EC variations in composting during the process, treatment T1= turning twice every 10 days, treatment T2 = turning once every 10 days

Fig. 6: TOC variations in composting during the process, treatment T1= turning twice every 10 days, treatment T2 = turning once every 10 days

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3.5. C/N Ratio Fig. 7 shows a similar pattern of changes in the amounts of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) in both treatments T1 and T2 during composting time. The results of this experiment showed a gradual increase in the TKN content in both treatments T1 and T2 while TOC decreased through the composting process. The initial TKN for both treatments was 1.36%, reached 1.48% and 1.47%, respectively by day 60. During the first 10 days of process, the TKN content in both treatments T1 and T2 had a sharp increase and reached 1.45% and 1.43, and then rose gradually and reached

1.48% and 1.47%, respectively, at the end of composting process. The trend of this climb in thermophilic phase was more observed due to the higher temperature during this time. Generally, this increase is due to the decline in the weight of dry mass, in forms of CO2 and H2O evaporation as heat generated during the decomposition of organic matters (Huang et al., 2004; Kalamdhad and Kazmi, 2009; Alburquerque et al., 2009; Bernal et al., 2009). The speed of rise in treatment T1 with more turning was somewhat faster than that in treatment T2, but the differences were not very significant.

Fig.7: TKN variations in composting during the process, treatment T1= turning twice every 10 days, treatment T2 = turning once every 10 days C/N ratio is a major factor in composting as one of the important requirements of microbial activities (Rynk et al., 1992). It shows the amount of degradation of material, carbon utilization as a source of energy and nitrogen concentration during the composting process (Lazcanoet al., 2008). The optimum initial range for starting the composting process is within 25 to 30 (Kala et al., 2009). According to the Shilev et al., (2007), the C/N ratio, equal to or less than 25, is required for a mature compost. In this experiment the C/N ratio declined gradually during the composting period (Figure 8), which is similar to previous studies (Ravindran and Sekaran, 2008; Lazcano et al., 2008). During the first 2 weeks of composting process proportion of reduction in C/N ratio was more than the rest of period as higher microbial activity in this time. In both treatments T1 and T2, the Initial C/N ratio, 35.7, decreased as carbon is utilized and nitrogen is increased with composting time and by day 14, it reached 29.3 and 31.4, respectively, and then gradually decreased to the optimum range for mature compost, approximately 21.8 and 24.4, respectively at the end of period, day 60. This reduction is due to the mineralization of organic matter by microorganisms during the composting period (Kala et al., 2009). The data show that the C/N ratio is affected by turning.

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Treatment T1 showed more reduction, 38.9%, compared to the treatment T2, 31.6, caused by

more turning during the composting period.

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