Technical Evaluation of a Tumble-Mix Contained Rapid Composting System in Composting Market Wastes

Camilo A. Polinga¹ and Arsenio N. Resurreccion²

ABSTRACT

Stratification of the compost pile caused by uneven aeration had been encountered by compost producers adopting the static composting technique. Forced aeration can solve this problem. However, the high cost of energy required to provide aeration to the compost materials affects the production cost. There is a need to optimize the physical parameters needed in contained rapid composting technique to come up with an efficient and low cost system suitable for composting market wastes.

The study evaluated a tumble-mix composting system for composting market wastes. It focused on the determination of the optimum levels of the duration and frequency of aeration that resulted in shorter retention period. The optimum setting of a tumble mix composting system was the following; a) duration of aeration is 15 minutes; b) frequency of aeration is every 4hours; and c) the rotational speed is 10rpm. The shortest retention time was recorded at 4.5 days.

Keywords: rapid composting technique, tumble-mix composting system

¹Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, College of Engineering and Information Technology, Cavite State University, 4122 Indang, Cavite, Philippines; ²Professor, Agricultural Machinery Division, Institute of Agricultural Engineering, CEAT, UPLB, College, Laguna, Philippines.