Compost Fermentation Process
Composting is actually a form of waste stabilization, but it requires special humidity, aeration conditions and microorganisms to produce the right temperature. This temperature is generally considered to be higher than 45 ° C. Maintaining this high temperature can inactivate pathogens and kill weed seeds. The organic matter remaining after reasonable composting has a low decomposition rate, which is relatively stable and is easily absorbed by plants. The odor after composting can be greatly reduced.
There are many different types of microbes involved in the composting process. Due to changes in raw materials and conditions, the number of various microorganisms is constantly changing, so no microorganisms in the composting process always dominate. Each environment has its own specific microbial flora, and the diversity of microorganisms allows the compost to avoid system collapse in the event of changes in external conditions.
The composting process is mainly carried out by the action of microorganisms, which are the main body of composting fermentation. There are two sources of microorganisms involved in composting: One is the large number of microorganisms in the organic waste; the other is the artificially added microbial inoculant. These strains have strong decomposition ability to certain organic wastes under certain conditions, and have the characteristics of strong activity, rapid reproduction, and rapid decomposition of organic matter, which can accelerate the progress of composting reaction and shorten the time of composting reaction.
Composting is generally divided into aerobic composting and anaerobic composting. Aerobic composting is the decomposition process of organic materials under aerobic conditions. Its metabolites are mainly carbon dioxide, water and heat. Anaerobic composting is the decomposition process of organic materials under anaerobic conditions. The final metabolite of anaerobic decomposition is methane. Carbon dioxide and many low molecular weight intermediates such as organic acids.
The main microbial species involved in the composting process are bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes. These three microorganisms have medium-temperature bacteria and high-temperature bacteria.
During the composting process, the changes of the microbial population changed with temperature are as follows: The low-temperature and medium-temperature microflora were mainly transformed into the medium-high temperature microflora; medium and high temperature microflora was mainly transformed into medium and low temperature microflora. As the composting time prolonged, the bacteria gradually decreased, the actinomycetes gradually increased, and the molds and yeasts decreased significantly at the end of composting.
