[USCC] Composting & oxygen for the microbes

Tue Apr 14 10:37:05 CDT 2009

John,

To make your composting operation more profitable is basically an
operational management aspect. Eliminating or minimizing odors makes your
operations more profitable by avoiding complaints from nearby receptors and
avoiding fines by regulators. I have been involved in several operations
which were poorly operated and therefore resulted in odors. As a consequence
more money was spent on lawyers. Some facilities had actually been required
to close or ended up I high capital costs.

You can not have composting without oxygen. As a minimum I recommend 10%.
Mesophilic microbes which are responsible for the predominant and rapid
decomposition need oxygen. Odors become more foul when you have anaerobic
conditions.

There are many ways one can operate a facility in an efficient way to be
more cost effective and reduce or minimize odors. This depends on your
process, local conditions, microclimate, etc. I refer you to the excellent
work which was done at the Islip facility by Dr. Stu Buckner. One of his
papers is titled: Effects of turning frequency and mixture composition on
process conditions and odor concentrations during grass composting. Islip
has done numerous studies.

I don't think it is my role or any other consultant or company to try to
give you specific operational information.

Eliot

-----Original Message-----
From: compost-bounces at mailman.cloudnet.com
[mailto:compost-bounces at mailman.cloudnet.com] On Behalf Of John A. Crockett
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 8:09 AM
To: U.S. Composting Council listserve
Subject: [USCC] Composting & oxygen for the microbes

How can we make composting more profitable, and eliminate foul odors at the
same time?  Is the answer in asking the question?

Could you work well without oxygen? While that may seem like a dumb
question, maybe we ought to be asking whether the microbes in our compost
can work very effectively with limited oxygen.

What is the oxygen level in your compost?  Have you ever, much less, do you
routinely check the oxygen and CO2, on a cross section profile basis?  OR,
do you assume that you have little control over how productive the microbes
are?

We have an introduction to our research at: www.magicsoil.com/research.  And
That only begins to scratch the surface.  In one experiment that we did
almost five years ago, working with 'identical' compost feedstock, compost
that we put on 'forced' aeration, and turned three times in the course of
six days, ended up with 49 times more active bacteria than bacteria
population in the compost that remained in a passively aerated windrow.

Is it possible, even likely, that turn around time, how long it takes to
'complete' the composting process is related to how many active bacteria,
and how much active fungi are working, performing the composting process?

In January of 1996 I did my first oxygen depletion test and found that the
microbes crashed the oxygen level from 19% down to 2% in 15 minutes when I
turned off the forced aeration.  That was a turning point for me, convincing
me that full time forced aeration was vital to empowering the microbes.aca

I started tinkering with forced aeration in January of 1996, and in April of
1998 put into service our first diesel powered compost aeration system,
including a 157' long manifold with 27 ports on it.  It performed above my
highest expectations and was incredibly inexpensive to operate, 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, every week.  Of course the systems we design now are
many times more efficient.

Does it make sense that if we want the microbes to be efficient composters,
that we've got to provide them with good working conditions?  Is there a
real possibility that if deprived of oxygen, the microbes may raise a big
stink?

Is it possible that installing an efficient full time forced aeration system
might actually lower your unit cost, by significantly improving turn around
time, while also eliminating foul odors?  Are you more concerned with
minimizing total cost, our unit cost; what about focusing on optimizing net
profit.

Working Together to Create a Sustainable Environment,
John A. Crockett, a.k.a. Dr. Mike Robe
Mother Nature's Farms
(845) 225-7763
http://www.magicsoil.com/
jac at magicsoil.com

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