Environmental assessment of two home compost with high and low gaseouss emissions of the composting process

2014 / Roberto Quirós, Gara Villalba, Pere Muñoz, Joan Colón, Xavier Font, Xavier Gabarrell

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of two home composts with low and high gaseous emissions of the composting process is presented. The study focused on the gaseous emissions of the composting process. Gaseous emissions of methane, nitrous oxides, ammonia and volatic organic compounds of the composting process were experimentally measured in field real trials. The results showed that the differences in gaseous emissions between the two home composts were 4.5, 5.8 and 52 for methane, nitrous oxides and ammonia, respectively. Higher emissions of nitrous oxides and methane affected significantly the category of global warming potential, while higher emissions of ammonia affected mainly the categories of acidification potential, eutrophication potential and photochemical oxidation. The differences found in the compost emissions were attributable to the composting production management (quality and composition of waste stream, frequency mixing of waste, humidity and temperature monitoring, among others) as well as weather conditions (temperature and humidity). Two fertilization treatments were modeled using LCA methodology. • Gaseous emissions of the composting process were experimentally measured. • Emissions of nitrous oxides affected considerably the global warming potential. • Emissions of ammonia affected mainly the categories of acidification potential. • Home composting represents an alternative for a sustainable use of organic waste.