Assessment of the performance of municipal solid wastes composting facilities under Egyptian conditions
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Over the last decade, composting has been considered a viable option for the treatment of municipal solid wastes under Egyptian conditions to produce a soil conditioner for use on land. A number of windrow composting plants at an intermediate-level technology have been recently established. Further, mechanised composting is also being proposed as a possible alternative approach. This paper is concerned with the technical assessment of the performance of a commercial windrow composting facility, as well as a pilot mechanises facility under local conditions. Further, some economic indicators of both systems are presented. For both facilities, key operational and process parameters have been field tested and analysed over adequate time periods. These parameters include operating system capacity, component equipment performance, sorting efficiency and compost recovery together with temperature, moisture content, pH values, and carbon to nitrogen ratio variations throughout the production phases. Based on the results of extensive appraisals, it has been concluded that the adopted technology for windrow composting is technically appropriate under Egyptian conditions. In contrast, there have been problems with the pilot mechanised facility that mandate many development efforts to mitigate. Nevertheless, this is valid only for this particular system, at thet development stage and, therefore, cannot be generalized. However, previous experience with a mechanized-type plant which has been in operation in Cairo since the early 1950's, has also shown that it would be more appropriate to use intermediate-level types of technologies. 1988.
