Manage your wastes responsibly, respectfully!

  

This graph shows temporal variation of the total number of bacteria, fungi, and actinomycete populations during the composting process of the pile 1 containing cotton residue (CR) and pile 2 containing cotton residues (CR) with olive mill wastewater (OMW). In this study, the population estimates are expressed as log10 (cfu/d.w) The statistics show that viable fungi numbers were significantly lower in pile 2 during all stages of the process compared to pile 1. This most likely happened due to the constituents of OMW. You can see fungi were actively working at the second thermophilic stage since they are the main degraders of cellulose and chitin. 

Kefalogianni, I., Tsagou , V., Xexakis , K., Chatzipavlidis, I., Skiada , V., & Efthymiou , A. (2021, September 10). PDF. Athens, Greece; Springer Nature Switzerland AG .

In this study, scientists used OMW as an effective treatment of wastes and a high production of high value product suitable as a biofertilizer. Co composting is an easy and very effective method that results in a value final product. For example an organic fertilizer, soil amendment with high levels of nitrogen content, improved soil porosity, enhanced water/nutrient retention and carbon sequestration in form of organic matter. The results of this study displayed that co- composting sped up the process and reduced the time needed to reach maturity that lead to a final product with improved quality. This study confirmed that respirometric tests (an ideal technique for evaluating the effects of chemical and biological additives in biological wastewater treatment systems) are useful indicators for a reliable description of the progress of the composting process, the dynamics of the microbial population present, and the compost maturity.  For this experiment, they used CR and OMW that were not contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms which is what usually occurs in most sewages, wastes, or manures. Pile 2 containing CR and OMW showed higher temperature measurements and a prolonged thermophilic phase due to the OMW addition. This prolongation occurred because of the presence of high organic matter content. Furthermore, OMW contains a substrate rich in carbon compounds which is prone to intense microbial activity. The thermotolerant, nitrogen fixing bacteria population have a high significance because any culturable microorganisms like genera Brevibacillus, Serratia, and, klebsiella were isolated in this experiment. These microorganisms can be further evaluated for their properties as control agents and plant growth promoters. This is a game changer for countries like Greece that have problems with large quantities of agricultural residues to manage. Moreover, this addition to soils will result in less heavy metals and pathogenic microorganisms dangerous to humans and animals. 

Kefalogianni, I., Tsagou , V., Xexakis , K., Chatzipavlidis, I., Skiada , V., & Efthymiou , A. (2021, September 10). PDF. Athens, Greece; Springer Nature Switzerland AG .