Fertilizer efficiency and environmental risk of irrigating Impatiens with composting leachate in decentralized solid waste management

Journal Article · Tue Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2010.02.010· OSTI ID:21357670

Chuanbin, Zhou ^[1]; Yishan, Zhang ^[1]

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1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Region Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shuangqing Road 18, Haidian District, Beijing 100085 (China)

The reduction and reuse of composting leachate is an issue of importance in the field of decentralized solid waste management. In this study, composting leachate from source-separated food waste was treated and subsequently used as liquid fertilizer to irrigate Impatiens (Impatiens balsamina). The leachate was altered by adjusting storage time and dilution, and through addition of microbial inocula. For each test case, the effects of irrigation were monitored by analyzing the Impatiens extension degree, numbers of leaves and flowers, dry weight, and photosynthetic pigment content to assess fertilizer efficiency. The main results obtained revealed that the addition of microbial inocula and lengthening of storage times may lower COD concentrations, adjust pH value and maintain a comparatively high level of nutrient contents. By adding microbial inocula, a COD concentration of 9.6% and BOD{sub 5} concentration of 6.7% were obtained for non-treated leachate with the same storage time. COD concentrations in leachate decreased to 69.4% after 36 weeks storage. Moreover, composting leachate promoted growth of Impatiens. The dry weight biomass of Impatiens irrigated using treated diluted leachate was 1.15-2.94 times that obtained for Impatiens irrigated using tap water. Lastly, following the irrigation of Impatiens over a short period, soil did not accumulate VOCs and heavy metals to levels exceeding relative standards. Further research on heavy metal and salinity accumulation in plants should be undertaken to meet the needs of large-scale applications.

• OSTI ID: 21357670
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Vol. 30, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2010.02.010; PII: S0956-053X(10)00096-6; Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
09 BIOMASS FUELS
BIOMASS
COMPOSTING
DILUTION
DRINKING WATER
EFFICIENCY
FERTILIZERS
HEAVY METALS
IRRIGATION
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC WASTES
OXYGEN
PH VALUE
PLANTS
SOLID WASTES
STORAGE
VOLATILE MATTER
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MANAGEMENT
MATTER
METALS
NONMETALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
WATER