Department of Soil and Water Conservation and Organic Waste Management, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, CSIC, P.O. Box 4195, 30080 Murcia, Spain.
Centro IFAPA 'Venta del Llano', P.O. Box 50, 23620 Mengíbar, Jaén, Spain.
Waste Manag. 2018 Sep;79:179-187. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2018.07.041. Epub 2018 Jul 27.
Composting operations taking place at municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment plants represent a source of volatile organic compounds (VOC) to the atmosphere. Understanding the variables governing the release of VOC at these facilities is crucial to assess potential health risks for site workers and local residents. In this work the changes in the VOC composition of a composting pile were monitored and compared to the VOC emmited from the same pile in order to understand the impact of composting operations on the release of VOC. More than one hundred VOC were indentified in the solid phase of the composting piles, which were dominated by terpenes (about 50% of the total amount of VOC) and in a lower quantity alcohols, volatile fatty acids and aromatic compounds. There was a reduction in the total concentration of VOC in the pile during composting, from 45 to 35 mg/kg, but the compostion and distribution of VOC families remained stable in the pile even in the mature compost. However, there was no correlation between the emitted VOC and their concentration in the composting pile. The VOC emission pattern was affected by the biological activity in the pile (measured by temperature, CO evolution and the presence of CH emissions). The highest VOC emissions were detected at early stages of the process, alongside with the generation of CH in the pile, and then decreased sharply in the mature compost as a consequence of biodegradation and volatilisation. These results pointed to the importance of composting operation rather than the composition of the raw materials on the release of VOC in composting plants.
在城市固体废物（MSW）处理厂进行的堆肥作业是向大气中排放挥发性有机化合物（VOC）的来源。了解这些设施中 VOC 释放的控制变量对于评估现场工人和当地居民的潜在健康风险至关重要。在这项工作中，监测了堆肥堆中 VOC 组成的变化，并将其与同一堆肥中排放的 VOC 进行了比较，以了解堆肥作业对 VOC 释放的影响。在堆肥堆的固相中共鉴定出 100 多种 VOC，其中萜类化合物（约占 VOC 总量的 50%）占主导地位，其次是醇类、挥发性脂肪酸和芳香族化合物。在堆肥过程中，堆中 VOC 的总浓度从 45 降至 35mg/kg，但即使在成熟堆肥中，VOC 族的组成和分布在堆中仍保持稳定。然而，排放的 VOC 与其在堆肥堆中的浓度之间没有相关性。VOC 排放模式受到堆中生物活性的影响（通过温度、CO 释放和 CH 排放的存在来衡量）。在过程的早期，与堆中 CH 的产生同时，检测到最高的 VOC 排放，然后在成熟堆肥中急剧下降，这是由于生物降解和挥发的结果。这些结果表明，在堆肥厂中，堆肥作业的重要性而不是原料的组成对 VOC 的释放有影响。
