Naslov
Aerobic composting of tobacco industry solid waste—simulation of the process

Autori
Briški, Felicita ; Horgas, Nina ; Vuković, Marija ; Gomzi, Zoran

Izvornik
Clean technologies and environmental policy (1618-954X) 5 (2003), 3-4; 295-301

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
tobacco solid waste ; nicotine ; aerobic composting ; adiabatic column reactor ; modeling the process

Sažetak
Solid waste accumulated during the processing of tobacco for cigarettes manufacturing mainly contains tobacco particles and flavoring agents. Its main characteristics are the high nicotine content as toxic compound, and high value of total organic carbon of aqueous extract. Due to it, the solid waste cannot be disposed as urban waste. The aim of this work was to stabilize tobacco solid waste by aerobic composting process. The experiments were carried out in thermally insulated column reactors (1 and 25 l) under adiabatic conditions and at 0.9 l min-1 of airflow rate during 16 days. The composting process was followed by nicotine detection and CO2 production. During the process the changes of temperature in reactor and the number of mesophilic and thermophilic population in the mixed microbial culture were closely monitored. It was estimated that at the end of the composting volume and mass were reduced to about 50% and 90% of nicotine was removed from solid waste. Simple empirical model was used to describe biodegradation rate of organic fraction of solid waste. It was found that the selected model describes aerobic composting fairly well and confirms the hypothesis that the released heat is proportional to the biodegradation process.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kemijsko inženjerstvo

POVEZANOST RADA