Composting experimental

To evaluate the mineralization (availability) of compost N ratio to estimate the amount available for plants over a certain period several experimental and calculation methods are possible (Amlinger et al. 2003) ... 

Lemunier M, Francou C, Rousseaux S, Houot S, Dantigny P, Piveteau P, Guzzo J (2005) Longterm survival of pathogenic and sanitation indicator bacteria in experimental biowaste composts. Appl Environ Microbiol 71 5779-5786... 

It was generally assumed that the endocrine disruptor nonylphenol (NP) is the most persistent metabolite of NPEO. However, experimental data on the formation of the metabolite NP from NPEO are surprisingly scarce, and mostly under anaerobic conditions NP has been reported to be formed [126,127]. Only one article reports a slight increase in NP concentration from the aerobic degradation of NPEO during the composting of wool scour effluent sludge [128]. 

The Autobar Disposables Group is a pan-European manufacturer of disposable foodservice products trading under the name Veriplast International. Autobar began its experimentation with NatureWorks PLA in 1997 when it manufactured yoghurt containers for Danone, the major European dairy products producer, for trials in the German market. While the containers were found to be successful, the systems to segregate the compostable materials had not yet been developed at that time. 

Q=1.30r e=-0.50 for 2-vinylpyridine, and Q=1.37, e=-0.74 for the other pyridine these are given in Table II. The monomer-copolymer compostion curve calculated from the monomer reactivity ratios, ri=0.514 and r2=0.715, gave a poorer fit to the experimental points with 4-vinylpyridine. To describe the data obtained with 2-vinylpyridine, the calculated curve with Q=1.5 and e=-1.2 was poorer fit than that with Q=1.4 and e=-l.l, but better than that with Q=1.2 and e=-1.0 for 1-ethenyl-4-(2,3-epoxy-l-propoxy)benzene. These calculated with Q=1.5, e=-1.2 Q=1.3, e=-l.l and Q=1.2, e=-l.0 for 1-ethenyl-4-(2,3-epoxy-l-propoxy)benzene gave an excellent fit corresponding closely to the points with 5-ethyl-2-vinylpyridine. 

Faced with this complexity, the proposal of a maturity index from UV spectrophoto-metric data supposes considering the evolution of the whole spectrum. The first step is the identification of the particular experimental spectra that permit explaining any other spectrum as a linear combination of these reference spectra [24]. This procedure is the semi-deterministic one, presented in Chapter 2 and already applied in the previous applications. These spectra are automatically selected from the set of a great number of spectra of raw extracts of composts (including humic and fulvic acids) or related to a gel chromatographic fraction. Four reference spectra have been selected from the spectra bank, corresponding respectively to the spectra of (Fig. 18) ... 

An MSFIA system exploiting a gas diffusion cell has been developed for the conductometric determination of ammonium in water samples of different matrices. These samples were coastal waters, pond waters, and compost aqueous extracts. The system based on the experimental setup shown in Figure 7.39 can be used for a wide concentration range of ammonia, from 0.075 to 360 mg/1, without sample dilution and with a precision better than 2% of RSD. The throughput of the method was 32 injections/h [128]. 

The biodegradation of the compostable materials was tested in a controlled experimental environment. The experimental setup for the laboratory experiment is based upon procedures outlined in ASTM D5338. The procedures to measure the gases were done with detectors as allowed in the ASTM standards. Each of the compostable materials was added to compost soil in a 5-liter glass-canning jar and placed in an oven maintained at 58°C. The room temperature was between 22 C and 2TC during the course of the experiment. The jar containers have a rubber seal on the top. 

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