Alternative biodigesters for organic waste treatment

Resumen

The uncontrolled generation of organic waste causes the decrease of the life of landfills. Alternative treatment processes such as anaerobic digestion of organic wastes may be a viable alternative to disposal of such organic waste, and the use of this technology can still generate gains using biofertilizer in agriculture. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the anaerobic digestion of Ceasa vegetables wastes from Cascavel, Paraná State, Brazil, by adding swine manure doses (inoculum) in order to reduce the volume of waste going to landfills. Twelve alternative digesters were developed, and are added 29 L of effluent (fruit and vegetable wastes) in each reactor, by adding three levels of inoculum: 0, 1, 2 and 3 L (pig manure). During 50 days of digestion were analyzed the following physical and chemical parameters of the effluent: pH, temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity, total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phosphorus (P) concentrations. Satisfactory results were obtained in most of assessed parameters. TS reductions were observed in the levels of 60% in the treatment with 2 L of inoculum. With respect to COD was possible to obtain a reduction of 57%. With the obtained results it can be concluded that the manufactured biodigesters were effective in the digestion of Ceasa waste, however, the effluent just can be used for biofertilization by pH correction, due to its acidity.