Co-compost Produced from Food Waste and Residue of the Sweetener Industry

Abstract

This study aimed to generate co-compost produced from food waste and residue of the sweetener industry. Food waste collected from Faculty of Public Health cafeteria, Mahidol University and Residue of the sweetener industry was obtained from one industry. The study was performed in 5 different ratios of residue of the sweetener industry and food waste as 0:100, 10:90, 20:80, 30:70 and 40:60 respectively. The composting process was done for 9 weeks. The produced co-compost was measured for heavy metal contamination after reaching the maturity. The co-compost properties were compared to Thai and some countries standard. The result indicated that there were 4 heavy metals content namely; As, Pb, Cr and Cu with the quantity of 3.26 - 7.81, 0.02 - 0.31, 0.79 - 3.03, and 1.60 - 4.78 mg/kg, respectively. The concentration of As, Pb and Cr in each ratio was significantly different (p-value < 0.05) except Cu. The concentration of concern heavy metals were acceptable when compared to the Thai standard, USA and European country standard. The major nutrient for plantation namely; nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were 1.53 - 8.05, 0.18 - 0.48 and 0.0538 - 0.1026 %, respectively. The ranges of moisture content, pH and C/N ratio were 0.39 - 0.64 %, 6.21-6.97 and 4.98 - 18.03, respectively.