Application of rotary in-vessel composting and analytical hierarchy process for the selection of a suitable combination of flower waste

Abstract

The flower waste generated from different sources is either mixed with municipal solid waste or thrown into the river in India. Flower waste is rich in organic contents and can be converted into nutrient-enriched compost. The aim of the present study was to determine the changes in physico-chemical and biological changes during the composting of flower waste by using rotary drum technique. For composting the flower, waste was mixed with cow dung, sawdust, and wheat bran. Four different trials were performed, in which 0.5 wt% of sawdust and wheat bran was added in each trial. From the series of trials 1–4, the different proportions of flower waste and cow dung were 5:4, 6:3, 7:2 and 8:1, respectively. Finally, the compost produced by all the trials were found to have pH 7.23–7.51, electrical conductivity 5.5–6.12 mS/cm, reduction in the percentage of total organic carbon 22–33%, the percentage increase in total nitrogen 2.17–2.66%, C:N ratio 13–17, sodium 2.14–2.60 g/kg and calcium 13.35–15.58 g/kg. The analytical hierarchy process was used for the ranking of the trials to find the best proportions from the different combinations performed in this study.

Keywords

• Rotary drum composting
• flower waste
• C:N ratio
• germination index