Effect of C/N on Water State during Composting of Kitchen Waste and Vegetable Waste Mixture

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the C/N ratio on the water state changes during the composting of kitchen waste (KW) and vegetable waste (VW) mixtures. The C/N ratios in KW and VW were 50.70 and 27.07, respectively, and the VW was added to the KW to amend the C/N ratio. Five composting treatments were used, R1 with 0% KW, R2 with 25% KW, R3 with 50% KW, R4 with 75% KW, and R5 with 100% KW, and the initial C/N ratios increased in the order R1 < R2 < R3 < R4 < R5. As the composting process progressed, the capillary water (CW) and multi-molecular-layer water (MMLW) were changed into entrapped water (EW), and a high C/N ratio could delay the changes in the water state. The percentage of EW and CW significantly positively correlated with the C/N ratio during the composting of KW. The composting process performed better in treatments R2 and R3 than in the other treatments, and it was found that treatments R2 and R3 each had a lag phase of around 4 d until the water states started to change.