| Author | Norbu, Tenzin |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. EV-02-27 |
| Subject(s) | Salvage (Waste, etc.)
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of
Science. School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. EV-02-27 |
| Abstract | Growing urbanization and industrialization have led to generation of large quantities of
wastes. Major portion of Municipal Solid Waste is dumped in landfill sites without any
pretreatment, which further creates the organic load on the ground water, and more
emissions of landfill gases. The best possible option to reduce the potential pollutants
before entering the natural biological system is to pretreat it prior to its final disposal.
Here, an out door study was under taken to pretreat the Municipal Solid Waste
collected from a vegetable market on a pilot scale by windrow composting and
ve1micomposting. The raw waste was put to active composting without any source
separation and pulverisation. Pretreatment indicators were developed and are used as a tool
to measure the stabilisation of the then waste under different conditions, periodically. It
was investigated that the volatile solid content of the waste reduced from 86 % to 60 %
within two weeks of active windrow composting. The volatile solid content in the
vermicomposted waste was also reduced by 19%. The degradation of organic matter was
greatest within the first week of active composting with an average pile temperature of
ss0
c. Further more, by adding proper amount of sludge from wastewater treatment plant to
the raw waste, resulted to a greater breakdown of organic residues, which ultimately
resulted in a lowering of C/N ratio from 43 to 24 within one week. Latter in the next phase,
the pre-composted waste were sorted mechanically using an inclined vibrating screen at the
composting site to study the convenience in the separation of plastics and other refractory
particles, which were initially hard to sort out from the raw waste. A sorting percentage
was developed to relate the sorting efficiency of the pre-composted waste to the
degradation of the raw waste in the composting heap. A pen was used to study the pile
settlement and volume reduction during the composting period. Pile settlement rate of 12.5
cm/day was recorded during the first two days. |
| Year | 2002 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. EV-02-27 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Visvanathan, C.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Annachhatre, Ajit P. ;Trankler, Josef; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Finland ; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.). - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002 |