Chemosphere 93 (2013) 12471257

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Chemosphere
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere

Review

Experimental and modeling approaches for food waste composting:

A review
Zhentong Li, Hongwei Lu , Lixia Ren, Li He
Sino-Canada Resources and Environmental Research Academy, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, PR China

h i g h l i g h t s
 We summarized the role of many signicant parameters during FW composting processes.
 Key ingredients affecting FW composting performance were analyzed.
 Representative mathematical models for simulating FW composting processes were discussed.
 Instructive perspects were provided at the end of this article.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 12 January 2013
Received in revised form 21 June 2013
Accepted 24 June 2013
Available online 20 July 2013
Keywords:
Review
Food waste
Composting
Simulation

a b s t r a c t
Composting has been used as a method to dispose food waste (FW) and recycle organic matter to improve
soil structure and fertility. Considering the signicance of composting in FW treatment, many researchers
have paid their attention on how to improve FW composting efciency, reduce operating cost, and mitigate the associated environmental damage. This review focuses on the overall studies of FW composting,
not only various parameters signicantly affecting the processes and nal results, but also a number of
simulation approaches that are greatly instrumental in well understanding the process mechanism
and/or results prediction. Implications of many key ingredients on FW composting performance are also
discussed. Perspects of effective laboratory experiments and computer-based simulation are nally
investigated, demonstrating many demanding areas for enhanced research efforts, which include the
screening of multi-functional additives, volatile organiccompound emission control, necessity of modeling and post-modeling analysis, and usefulness of developing more conjunctive AI-based process control
techniques.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents
1.
2.

3.

4.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Role of environmental parameters during FW composting processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.
Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.
pH level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.
MC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4.
C/N ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.5.
Aeration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Implications of key ingredients on FW composting performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1.
Starting culture and additives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.
N transfer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3.
Exhaust gas emission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Modeling of FW composting processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.
Mechanism models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.
Statistical approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Corresponding author at: Sino-Canada Resources and Environmental Research Academy, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, PR China. Tel.: +86 10
6177 2939; fax: +86 010 6177 2978.
E-mail address: luhw@ncepu.edu.cn (H. Lu).
0045-6535/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.06.064

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Z. Li et al. / Chemosphere 93 (2013) 12471257

5.
6.

Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Future research needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.
Experimental efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.1.
Screening of multi-functional additives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.2.
VOC emission control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.
Simulation approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.1.
Process simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.2.
Parameter uncertainty and relationship nonlinearity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3.
Process control and quality control techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7.

1. Introduction
Composting is a biochemical process converting various components in organic waste into relatively stable humus-like substances
that can be used as a soil amendment or organic fertilizer (Tiquia,
2010; Coelho et al., 2011; Lashermes et al., 2012). As an alternative
waste disposal method, composting can divert waste from landll,
mitigate groundwater contamination, reduce air pollution and
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and generate useful products
(Cekmecelioglu et al., 2005; Adhikari et al., 2008; He et al.,
2011a). Therefore, the studies related to composting processes
have attracted more attentions of many researchers (He et al.,
2009; Iqbal et al., 2010; Kumar et al.,2010).
During composting processes, the precise chemical changes and
complex metabolic processes of various microorganisms vary with
the composition of composting materials (Chang and Hsu, 2008).
Even in a certain composting process, the entire system would also
change dynamically to reect the variation of environmental factors
(Lin et al., 2008a). Therefore, the individual properties of particular
waste materials may have their special characters during composting, though the principles of composting for different kinds of waste
are mostly the same. In recent years, FW has been increasingly produced by daily life due to the rapid growth of population and economic development (Smrs et al., 2002; Lin, 2008; Gonzales et al.,
2010). Compared with other organic waste, FW has many special
physical and chemical characteristics, such as high organic content,
high organic-to-ash ratio, loose physical structure, high salt and oil
content, high nitrogen content, and low C/N ratio (Chang and Hsu,
2008; Kumar et al., 2010). Being the heaviest component of municipal waste stream after recyclables are removed, FW has high moisture content (MC) and is very dense (Adhikari et al., 2008; Kim et al.,
2008; Chang and Chen, 2010). It often contains high concentrations
of easily degradable organic substances such as sugars, starches, lipids and proteins, and is suitable to be disposed by composting.
Although composting is not a new solid waste disposal method,
the characteristics of FW still offer a unique challenge to the
researchers, since the basic knowledge of FW composting is inadequate for supporting successful processes with high efciency (Lei
and Vander Gheynst, 2000). Therefore, FW composting has gained
particular attention in the past decade (Cekmecelioglu et al.,
2005; Chang et al., 2005; Adhikari et al., 2008; Chang and Hsu,
2008; Kim et al., 2008; Kumar et al., 2009; Chang and Chen, 2010).
This paper will review the previous research on the overall FW
composting processes. As a vast number of literatures in such a
eld exist, it is not our intention to provide a complete discussion
of all these studies. Instead, we will focus on the most representative works, and discuss signicant challenges. The paper will be
structured as follows: (1) role of environmental parameters during
FW composting processes, (2) implications of key ingredients on
composting performance, (3) simulation models of FW composting
processes, (4) discussions, and (5) future research needs.

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2. Role of environmental parameters during FW composting

processes
The main factors controlling FW composting processes include
temperature, MC, pH level, aeration rate, C/N ratio, particle size,
and nutrient content (Adhikari et al., 2008; Chang and Hsu,
2008; Kumar et al., 2010). They may change continuously along
with the decomposition process and signicantly affect the nal
products. Temperature changes especially during the thermophilic
period and highly affects pathogens reduction, pH level is connected with microbial growth and ammonia emission, MC greatly
affects the physical and chemical properties of raw materials, C/N
ratio is signicant for microbial growth, and aeration has a great
inuence on microbial growth and gas emission. In most cases,
they are not independent but show various degrees of interactions
and correlations (Tiquia, 1996). For achieving compost maturity,
these parameters should be appropriately controlled (Komilis
et al., 2004; Chang and Chen, 2010; Guo et al., 2012; Huet et al.,
2012). During the past decades, many researchers have studied
FW composting processes under different initial conditions and
control techniques. Table 1 presents part of the previous efforts.
2.1. Temperature
The temperature evolution is an indicator of microbial activities
during composting processes and, consequently, it may be considered as a convenient and direct parameter to determine the status
of composting processes (Haug, 1993; Kaiser, 1996; Tang et al.,
2011). Maintaining an optimal temperature (specic temperature
as yet to be determined) in the thermophilic range may be a prerequisite for quicker and more complete composting (Lin, 2008; Kumar et al., 2010). The temperatures utilized by the previous FW
composting experiments are shown in Table 2.
Temperature inuences both the specic nature of microbiological population and the rate and type of decomposition (Kumar
et al., 2010). Thus it is easily connected with the decomposing rate
and used as the principal regulatory variable of process control in
many operation processes (Ugwuanyi, 1999). Lin (2008) used total
coliforms as the indicator of pathogens and found that, when the
temperature was about 65 C, total coliforms dropped quickly
and the lowest decrease rate had been detected when the temperature reached 76 C. Lpez-Real and Foster (1985) reported that
only 34 d at 55 C were enough for pathogens total elimination.
Stentiford (1996) pointed out that the composting temperature
maintained between 55 and 65 C was sufcient for total inactivation of pathogens. Yu and Huang (2009) conducted a group of FW
composting experiments and found that when the temperature increased to above 50 C, the indigenous microorganisms could easily utilize the organic materials. Kumar et al. (2010) initiated a set
of experiments with the highest temperature being 75.2 C and
found the concentration of watersoluble total organic carbon

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Table 1
The feedstock, resources, initial conditions and bulking agents used in the previous FW composting experiments.
Feedstock

Resource

C/N ratio

Moisture content
(%)

Initial
pH

Initial temperature
(C)

Bulking agent

References

FW

N/A

6790

55.4

4750

Rice straw and grass

Seo et al. (2004)

1721

6164

4.25.0

2535

FW
MSWa
FW
FW
FW
FW

Collected from eight

families
Dining halls, hotels,
cafeterias
School lunch
Grocery store
Synthetic
N/A
N/A
Synthetic

2632
2530
1256.6
25
32
1532

61.362.2
5560
55
80
63
5565

62.866.3
N/A
2530
N/A
37
25

Cekmecelioglu et al.
(2005)
Chikae et al. (2006)
Komilis et al. (2004)
Chang and Hsu (2008)
Kim et al. (2008)
Lin (2008)
Sun et al. (2009)

FW

Synthetic

19.5
21.5

63.5

5.45.6
N/A
4
4.4
5.2
5.76
6.29
6.03

Wood shaving and mulch

hay
Rice hulls and tree cuttings
N/A
Rice husks
N/A
sawdust
Leaves

1921

Leaves

Yu and Huang, 2009

FW

Synthetic

21.5
39.2
25.7
1925
8.85
26

71.479.8

N/A

2530

Rice husk,
sawdust, rice bran

Chang and Chen (2010)

FW

LRFV
MSW
FW
MSW
a
b
c

Synthetic
Bazaar
Restaurant
Composting plant

74.47
N/A
7080
60

6.5
4.95.2
3.865
7.13

30
N/A
2545
N/A

PW
Sawdust and peanut shell
Rice husk
Dry grass

Coln et al. (2010)

Iqbal et al. (2010)
Kumar et al. (2010)
Xi et al. (2012)

Municipal solid waste.

Leftovers of raw fruit and vegetables.
Pruning wastes.

Table 2
Characteristics of temperature variation and composting scales of some FW
composting experiments.
Reference

Composting
Reach
Highest
Initial
temperature temperature highest scale
time
(C)
(C)
(d)

Seo et al. (2004)

Cekmecelioglu et al.
(2005)
Chikae et al. (2006)
Chikae et al. (2006)
Chang and Hsu (2008)
Kim et al. (2008)
Lin (2008)
Yu and Huang (2009)
Chang and Chen (2010)
Coln et al. (2010)
Kumar et al. (2010)

4750
2535

4750
61.3

N/A
30

Bench scale
Pilot-scale

65.166.3
62.865.0
2530
N/A
37
1921
2530
30
2545

71.1
65
57
6768
7577
6870
60
6870
75.2

32
1
N/A
1213
1314
1314
N/A
40
3.5

Pilot-scale
Pilot-scale
Bench scale
Pilot-scale
Pilot-scale
Bench scale
Bench scale
Bench scale
Bench scale

(TOCs) decreased sharply when the temperature reached the thermophilic level. Guo et al. (2012) designed a series of experiments
that reached the thermophilic phase (>50 C) within the rst
12 d, due to the metabolism of psychrophilic and mesophilic
microbes; it remained above 50 C for a long time and a lower
temperature would lead to a higher electrical conductivity (EC), a
slower organic matter (OM) degradation rate, and a lower N
content in the cooling phase.
An appropriate temperature and thermophilic phase are necessary for FW composting. Many previous studies attempted to use
quick external heating equipments, but seldom obtained satisfactory results. This is because the rapid temperature increase by
external heating might not be benecial for microorganism
growth. Different responses of microorganism to the changing
temperature can dramatically affect the performance of FW
composting. In a typical self-heated FW composting process, temperature is gently increased along with the microbiological activity
of aerobic microorganism; it then drops under anaerobic environment when the pH reaches a certain level. Mesophilic microbes
thus obtain a more suitable growing temperature, and nally
mature the remaining OM in a short period. In general, the self-

heated composting provides a favorable thermophilic range (55

60 C) in a suitable period, and thus is necessary for the growth
of both thermophilic and mesophilic microorganism. In quick
external-heated composting, however, temperature always keeps
in a certain level; the thermophilic microbes decrease with the
increasing pH and decreasing oxygen concentration, but mesophlic
microbes could not be active under such a high temperature.
Therefore, quick external-heated composting can hardly provide
a suitable temperature variation for supporting the succession of
various microbial communities, and thus generate satisfactory
composting performance.

2.2. pH level
During FW composting processes, short-chain organic acids are
generated from the feedstock since the initial phase of batch composting (Beck-Friis et al., 2001). The short-chain organic acids and
ammonia appear to contribute mostly to the pH variation, which is
often within a range of 4.98.3 (Conghos et al., 2003). The generated numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-VOCs
during composting (e.g. acids and alcohols) signicantly decrease
the microbial activity (Komilis et al., 2004), and increasing such
activity levels through adjusting pH becomes an efcient way to
enhance composting performance (Smrs et al., 2002; Sasaki
et al., 2003; Komilis et al., 2004; Yu and Huang, 2009). A low pH
value may inhibit microbial activity, and sometimes severely hampers the progress of composting reaction (Beck-Friis et al., 2001);
in comparison, a high pH value may also have inhibitory effects
on the activities of microorganisms.
Both high and low pH levels can cause adverse effect on FW
composting processes. Nakasaki et al. (1993) tested liming of garbage composting (from meal supply service industry) in order to
prevent the pH level from dropping below 7, especially at the early
stage in a laboratory-scale reactor under well-controlled experimental conditions. They found that the degradation rate of OM in
the pH-controlled experiment was faster than that in the experiment without pH control. They also tested the pH dependency of
microbial activities using a liquid medium of proteins and glucose,
and found an optimum pH range of 78 for FW composting. Beck-

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Friis et al. (2001) conducted a set of FW composting experiments

under different temperature regimes, and found that the pH value
in the self-heated regime had a larger range of uctuation than that
in the quick external-heating regime. Cekmecelioglu et al. (2005)
mixed 2 L of phosphate-buffered water (pH = 7.0) with 200 g of
compost, and found that the pH values of almost all experiments
raised during the composting processes and in nal they were at
the range of 8.08.2. Smrs et al. (2002) conducted a composting
experiment with organic household waste (mainly consisted of
FW and other kitchen waste) as initial materials; the results indicated that the process had the highest degradation rate when the
pH level was at the range of 68.
In general, variation of pH affects the composting performance,
but it highly relies on the buffer capacity of additives and the production of organic acid and ammonia. As the anaerobic microorganisms are less sensitive to pH levels, the metabolic activity of
aerobic microorganisms in FW is often limited at a low pH level
for a long time since the initial stage, which prolongs the composting time. As FW often has a high proportion of OM, adding some
additives (e.g. y ash, buffer solutions) to maintain pH at a desired
level is necessary to shorten composting time and further enhance
the efciency.
2.3. MC
As one of the most signicant factors during FW composting,
MC greatly affects the physical and chemical properties of waste
materials in course of degrading OM (Iqbal et al., 2010). During
composting, the MC is important for transporting the dissolved
nutrients that are required for physiological and metabolic activities of microorganisms (Liang et al., 2003a). It was investigated
that MC had the most signicant impact on almost all of the other
physical parameters (i.e. depth, bulk density, free air space (FAS),
air permeability and thermal conductivity) (Jiang et al., 2011; Huet
et al., 2012). Meanwhile, MC was also proven as a dominant factor
affecting aerobic microbial activity (Liang et al., 2003a).
However, FW always has high MC, which may result in long
treatment time or low degradation efciency in composting. The
optimum MC depends on the specic physicochemical properties
and biological features of the materials to be composted (Liang
et al., 2003a; Cekmecelioglu et al., 2005; Kumar et al., 2010; Huet
et al., 2012). The most favorable moisture level for biodegrading different compost mixtures varies from 50% to 70% (Iqbal et al., 2010).
Liang et al. (2003a) selected ve MCs, i.e. 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% and
70%, to study the response relation between MC and microbial
activity during composting processes, and found that MC was a signicant factor affecting aerobic microbial activity of composting.
Kumar et al. (2010) found that the optimum MC was 60% for green
waste and FW co-composting, through comparing the experimental
results under the condition of various MCs (4575%).
2.4. C/N ratio
As composting processes mainly consist of biological degradation reactions, carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N ratio) plays an important role (Guo et al., 2012). The identication of an optimal C/N
ratio is of great signicance for getting a favorable composting result, and highly depends on the property of composting materials
(Adhikari et al., 2008). Iqbal et al. (2010) controlled a C/N ratio
between 20 and 25 to a FW composting process. Sasaki et al.
(2003) found an optimum C/N ratio between 10 and 40 for waste
soybean oil composting processes. It was also detected that the
rate constants for oil degradation and consumption seldom varied
with the change of C/N ratio (from 10, 20 to 40).
Many previous studies believed that FW had too low C/N ratios
for efcient composting (Adhikari et al., 2008; Chang and Hsu,

2008; Chang and Chen, 2010). Recently, the researchers have found
that sound composting reactions can also be expected when the C/
N ratios were lower than 25 (Huang et al., 2004; Zhu, 2007; Kumar
et al., 2010). Huang et al. (2004) compared composting processes
with C/N ratios being 30 and 15. The results showed that composting with a low initial C/N ratio could reduce the amount of bulking
agent (BA) used, but require a longer composting period. Zhu
(2007) conducted two pilot-composting experiments with initial
C/N ratios of 20 and 25, respectively. It was found that the lower
initial C/N ratio would reduce 172 kg rice straw t 1 fresh swine
manure than the higher one but nitrogen loss was higher, and
the maturity time would be postponed. Kumar et al. (2010) investigated co-composting of FW and green waste at low initial C/N ratios, and found that the substrate at a higher C/N ratio (i.e. 19.6)
can be decomposed effectively to reduce 33% of total volatile solids
in 12 d; optimal operating C/N ratios in the range of 13.919.6 with
MCs being in the range of 4575% were also identied.
2.5. Aeration
As a signicant factor in FW composting systems, aeration is
important to both microbial growth and gas emission (Chang
et al., 2005; Lin, 2008; Iqbal et al., 2010; Jiang et al., 2011; Guo
et al., 2012). The aeration rate intensely affects microbial activity,
substrate degradation rate, and temperature variation in FW composting processes (Rasapoor et al., 2009; Gao et al., 2010). It was
also found that low and medium aeration rates led to an increase
in percentage of total nitrogen (TN), sharp decrease of C/N ratio
and long time of thermophilic phase, while high aeration rates
led to greater EC values corresponding to the compost manure
(Rasapoor et al. 2009). How to determine an optimal amount of
aeration for various composting processes has been widely studied
to make the processes more efcient (Barrington et al., 2003; De
Guardia et al., 2008; Gao et al., 2010; Guo et al., 2012).
Different aeration rates have been identied for various composting processes by means of experimental practices (Lin et al.,
2008a; Rasapoor et al., 2009). Lu et al. (2001) used an aeration rate
of 0.433.44 L min 1 kg 1 OM for a FW composting process. The
results indicated that ow rate of enforced aeration indeed inuenced the composting performance, and the composting under
0.430.86 L min 1 kg 1 OM condition seemed better than that
under 1.723.44 L min 1 kg 1 OM. Seo et al. (2004) supplied air
periodically with airow of 5 L min 1 10 min in every hour, and
the weight loss of FW after the composting was very high (i.e.
71%). Lin (2008) also aerated the reactor continuously with vacuum at 0.67 L min 1 kg 1 OM, and found that the process was easy
to operate and control without NH3 odor to achieve superior nal
product in a short composting time. Kim et al. (2008) studied a
pilot-scale in-vessel FW composting, using forced aeration at an
aeration rate of 0.190.38 L min 1 kg 1 OM. It was found that the
highest CO2 concentration and lowest O2 concentration were monitored on day 12, and high temperature was observed during the
entire composting process. This demonstrated that the aeration
of this composting system had provided enough air to aerobically
degrade the substrates. Yu and Huang (2009) mixed FW with
leaves and garden soil through a perforated plate, and used a ow
rate of 0.3 L min 1 kg 1 OM during the entire process. This ow
rate not only provided enough air but also maintained appropriate
temperature for composting. Chang and Chen (2010) used an
aeration rate of 0.72 L min 1 kg 1 OM for FW composting through
an induced fan, and the highest temperature was detected at 47
60 C. Kumar et al. (2010) studied about co-composting of FW
and green waste with an aeration rate of 1 L min 1 kg 1 OM. The
results showed that 99.2% relative seed germinated and the calculated value of germination index was close to the suggested value
(60%). Through the above research, it can be found that almost all

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Z. Li et al. / Chemosphere 93 (2013) 12471257

Table 3
Different aeration systems and corresponding nal results in the previous FW composting experiments .
Reference

Dimension of reactor/
pill (L)

Aeration system

Aeration rate
(L min 1 kg 1 OM)

Nitrogen in nal
compost (%)

C/N ratio in nal

compost

EC in nal compost
(dS m 1)

Lu et al. (2001)
Seo et al. (2004)

1.5
206.15

0.430.86
N/A

0.51.9
7.33

3.821
N/A

N/A
N/A

Kim et al. (2008)

Lin (2008)

324,000
3825

0.190.38
0.67

1.89
1.6

18
20

N/A
2.87

Rasapoor et al.
(2009)
Yu and Huang
(2009)
Chang and Chen
(2010)
Kumar et al.
(2010)
Guo et al. (2012)

28,800

Enforced aeration
Negative pressure
aeration
Forced aeration
Negative pressure
aeration
N/A

0.40.9

1.11.4

623

10.512.4

31.8

Enforced aeration

0.31

N/A

N/A

N/A

180

0.72

0.871.59

32.751.5

N/A

120

Negative pressure
aeration
Enforced aeration

1.01

N/A

N/A

N/A

60

Enforced aeration

0.240.72

2.02.8

10.816.2

N/A

FW composting experiments supplied air with an airow range of

0.11 L min 1 kg 1 OM. More information related to the previous
FW composting experiments with different aeration rates and system conditions is showed in Table 3.
Aeration under either positive or negative pressure was sometimes introduced in FW composting processes (Lu et al., 2001;
Seo et al., 2004; Lin, 2008; Yu and Huang, 2009; Chang and Chen,
2010; Kumar et al., 2010). Better results were obtained than the
experiments using natural ventilation, since the oxygen concentration inside the compost could be well controlled through adjusting
the aeration rate. Note that aeration often cools the substrate near
the air outlet, and thus affects the pathogen destruction and decreases microbial activity in the surrounding area. Comparison between positive- and negative-pressures aeration is provided in
Table 4. In general, positive-pressure aeration reduces MC in the
composting material near the bottom of the reactor and increases
MC of the compost surface, while negative-pressure aeration is adverse. Both of them can offer ne composting performance in a
short time, but the nal product under negative-pressure aeration
is much related to FAS and MC in composting materials, and the
associated low FAS and high MC may lead to an anaerobic environment that further hampers the composting progress. Negativepressure aeration was also used for air supply and collecting the
emitted gas, while the reaction under positive-pressure aeration
must add particular equipment to collect and treat the emitted
gas at extra costs.
3. Implications of key ingredients on FW composting
performance
Except for the parameters mentioned in the above review, composting performance is in close relation to some other factors, such
as starting culture and additives, N transfer, exhaust gas emissions,
and so on. Starting culture and additives inuence the compost
degradation rate, the highest temperature during composting processes, and some other characteristics. The N transfer during composting processes affects microbial growth and the nal products
application as soil amendment and organic fertilizer. During composting processes, some gases are generated and discharged to the
atmosphere, and their major components are GHG and VOCs that
are harmful to the compost and surrounding environment. Studies
on these concerns thus become necessary.
3.1. Starting culture and additives
The property of starting culture has signicant inuence on
composting processes (Lin et al., 2008a). Due to the special charac-

teristics of FW, additives often have to be added to the initial materials to speed up the reaction and dilute hazardous substances in
the mixture (Seo et al., 2004). The most commonly used additive
is known as BA. Table 5 shows the chemical and physical characteristics of some widely used BAs. They can not only control pH,
but also change physical property (MC, carbon content, porosity,
C/N ratio and so on) of the feedstock (Cekmecelioglu et al., 2005;
Adhikari et al., 2008; Iqbal et al., 2010). In FW composting, BAs
are often added to adjust MC, pH and C/N ratio, and enlarge FAS
(Adhikari et al., 2008; Chang and Chen, 2010; Iqbal et al., 2010; Kumar et al., 2010).
For example, Sartaj et al. (1997) used peat to absorb excess
water from slurry waste to generate solid matrix mixture that
can compost easily under passive aeration condition. Adhikari
et al. (2008) compared the effectiveness of three kinds of BAs
and found that chopped wheat straw and chopped hay could offer
the best performance; in comparison, wood shavings and wasted
animal feed were lack of structural stability after absorbing moisture, and cardboards had a low water absorption capacity.
Most of BAs were used to ght against the organic acids produced during the early composting stages and thus helped maintain pH levels of the mixture within a range from 6 to 8 (Haug,
1993). Some studies used sodium salt solution (NaOH and NaAC)
in the initial phase of FW composting to control pH levels, and
found that NaAC could bring high microbial activity (Lei and Vander Gheynst, 2000; Yu and Huang, 2009). Caustic lime was also
considered as an amendment to adjust the pH levels, particularly
for acid FW composting (Sasaki et al., 2003; Adhikari et al.,
2008). Comparison between urea and caustic lime as nitrogen
source to the feedstock was also studied, and the run adding caustic lime and ammonium sulfate showed greater degradation efciency than that with urea added (Sasaki et al. 2003).
In some cases, BAs were added to adjust C/N ratios of initial
substrates (Adhikari et al., 2008; Iqbal et al., 2010; Kumar et al.,
2010; Jiang et al., 2011; Guo et al., 2012). Rice husk, NH4NO3, sawdust, rice bran, cornstalks and some other materials were used as
BAs, in order to deal with the variation of FW production rate
and substrate nature arising from seasonal change, to speed up
the reaction, or to obtain an optimal operating condition (Adhikari
et al., 2008; Chang and Chen, 2010; Kumar et al., 2010). It was also
proved that a well-controlled low C/N ratio through adding BAs
was feasible for FW composting (Jiang et al., 2011).
People often chose BAs from inexpensive waste materials that
are readily available, with little consideration of what type and
shape are used, though more BAs may provide more FAS (Iqbal
et al., 2010). Various types of BAs were selected and used in the
previous composting studies corresponding to different properties

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Z. Li et al. / Chemosphere 93 (2013) 12471257

Table 4
Comparison between positive- and negative-pressures aeration systems for FW composting.

Negative pressure
Positive pressure

Distribution of Moisture content

(from high to low)

Air sources

Gas emission

Inuence on the system

Bottom to top
Surface to inside

Natural air from ambient environment

Both natural and articial gases

Collected directly
Extra collecting equipment

Lower FAS
Lower MC

Table 5
Chemical and physics characteristics of some bulking agents used in FW composting experiments.

a
b

Materials

pH

DM (%)

N (% dwb)

C (% dwb)

BDa (kg m

Sawdust
Wheat straw
Chopped hay
Chopped wheat straw
Wood shaving
N/A
Sawdust
Pruning wastes
Sawdust
Rice husk
Branches
Corn stalks

5.55
6.3
6.6
7.0
5.9
7.3
4.2
N/A
N/A
7.17.3
N/A
N/A

92
86.9
90.8
88.9
85.0
90
88
74.4
88
8992
87.3
87.5

0.22
0.98
0.89
0.50
0.08
1.9
0.8
1.53
0.20.4
1.22
0.79
0.39

46.5
49.8
51.65
50.38
54.18
57
46.4
40
4346
41.66
48.3
48.0

N/A
N/A
169b
127b
211b
240
N/A
N/A
190210
N/A
N/A
N/A

C/N ratio

References

211
50.8
58
101
677
30
58
25.9
140160
34.17
61.1
123.1

Fang and Wong (1999)

Barrington et al. (2003)
Adhikari et al. (2008)
Adhikari et al. (2008)
Adhikari et al. (2008)
Kim et al. (2008)
Lin (2008)
Coln et al. (2010)
Chang and Chen (2010)
Kumar et al. (2010)
Doublet et al. (2011)
Doublet et al. (2011)

Bulking density.
Manually compressed bulk densities.

(carbon source, physical shape, particle size and bulking density) of

the feedstock (Cekmecelioglu et al., 2005; Adhikari et al., 2008;
Doublet et al., 2011). Among them, sawdust is one of the most
widely used materials (Huang et al., 2004; Adhikari et al., 2008;
Lin, 2008; Chang and Chen, 2010) followed by sugarcane bagass,
rice hull and woody residues. Wood chips have a low biodegradability due to lignin contents requiring a minimum FAS of 26%
compared to the general recommendation (30%) (Eftoda and
McCartney, 2004). Cardboard and newspaper were occasionally
used as BAs for bedding dairy farm composting piles, through providing carbon but not much air space (Adhikari et al., 2008).
Although leaves have relatively low porosity than wood chips, they
were also used as carbon source in organic waste composting processes (Iqbal et al., 2010). Besides, matured composts were also
used as seed during FW composting processes (Komilis et al.,
2004; Stabnikova et al., 2005); it could dilute the fresh waste, decrease the readily available energy per volume, reduce the risk of
high odor and inhibiting-organic acid concentrations, and provide
diversied microbial species that could help accelerate the startup process (Nakasaki and Akiyama, 1988). In terms of the type,
particle size and proportion of BAs to be used in FW composting
processes, Raichura and McCartney (2006) found that a small number of small-size BAs were preferred to give the feedstock an adequate porosity instead of using more BAs with a big particle size.
This was because small particles can create a real porous structure
and the feedstock that had a homogenous porous size distribution
can act as efcient oxygen consumer.

3.2. N transfer
Compost has long been used as soil amendment and organic
fertilizer (Carbonell et al., 2011; He et al., 2011b; Marchal et al.,
2013). The transformation of nitrogen in composting materials is
one of the most important factors that affect compost quality
(Ekinci et al., 2000; Beck-Friis et al., 2001; Jeong and Kim, 2001;
Cayuela et al., 2012). Nitrogen-related reactions in composting
processes are complex, but the principal procedures governing
the formation of nitrogen species can all be categorized into min-

eralization, volatilization, nitrication, immobilization and denitrication (Hellebrand, 1998).

During FW composting processes, nitrogen losses would vary
depending on several factors, including C/N ratio, aeration, pH,
BA, MC, and raw-material composition (Barrington et al., 2003).
Besides, temperature, mixing and turning, and aeration rate can
also inuence the volatilization of ammonia (Cekmecelioglu
et al., 2005). High pH could increase nitrogen loss through ammonia volatilization in conjunction with high temperature and low
C/N ratio, while high MC would decline nitrogen volatilization as
more ammonia dissolved in the liquid phase than in the gas-lled
pore space of the compost, and the dissolved ammonia would then
be utilized by microbial growth in the next stages (Ekinci et al.,
2000; Liang, 2000). Beck-Friis et al. (2001) studied the inuence
of different temperature regimes on the emission of exhaust gas
containing nitrogen, and found that self-heating could promote
ammonia emission. The addition of Mg and P salts were useful
for conservation of ammonia in composting, and that of BAs could
increase N availability in the nal composts and limit N losses during volatilization by adjusting the C/N ratio to a large enough value
(Jeong and Kim, 2001; Doublet et al., 2011).

3.3. Exhaust gas emission

During FW composting processes, part of the substrates is
decomposed into gas and further discharged to the atmosphere
(Beck-Friis et al., 2001). The major components of gas emissions
are GHG, (i.e. CO2, NxO and CH4) (Lu et al., 2008a; Jiang et al.
2013), and VOCs (Komilis et al., 2004). FW contains high concentration of easily degradable organic substances (e.g. sugars, starches,
lipids and proteins) that are rich in carbon and nitrogen, and tends
to become a signicant source of GHG emission (Smrs et al., 2002;
Lu et al., 2008b; Kim et al., 2012). Beck-Friis et al. (2001) conducted
a group of FW composting experiments and obtained that, about
6567% of TOC was lost as CO2 and 2433% of TN was emitted in
the form of NH3. Lu et al., 2008a; Jiang et al. (2013) studied the evolution of CH4, N2O and NH3 during composting, and the effects of
turning and covering. This study found that covering reduced NH3

Z. Li et al. / Chemosphere 93 (2013) 12471257

and N2O emissions but increased CH4 losses, while turning decreased N2O and CH4 losses, but enlarged NH3 losses. The results
showed that turning twice weekly with as little as possible covering
would result in maturation with the lowest GHG emission.
During composting processes, VOCs are potential air pollutants,
due totheir malodorous and hazardous properties as well as considerable contribution to global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion and tropospheric ozone formation (Kleinman, 2005). In
general, VOCs (or semi-VOCs) appear to be embedded in the solid
matrix and released at the initial wetting and heating processes
(Komilis et al., 2004). For FW composting, however, studies related
to the VOC emissions were seldom reported. Komilis et al. (2004)
investigated the VOC emissions in a FW composting process and
found that approximately 0.332.5 mg kg 1 dry matter of VOCs
and semi-VOCs were generated. The environmental problem
caused by the presence of VOCs in gaseous streams is due to their
toxicity and bad odor. Many researchers studied the approaches
to reduce VOC emissions fromcomposting facilities (Komilis et al.,
2004; Pagans et al., 2007; Turan et al., 2009). Pagans et al. (2007)
used compost biolter to remove VOCs from the exhaust gases during an organic waste composting process, and found that the maximum VOC removal efciency was 82% when the biolter worked at
a loading rate range of 0.5528.8 g C m 3 biolter h 1. Turan et al.
(2009) identied the highest VOC removal efciency of 88% for a
poultry litter composting process with pumice addition.
The emission rates of CO2 and NH3 indicate the decomposition
of OM. During FW composting processes, the rst peak of CO2 andNH3 emissions occurs when the temperature reaches a high level.
It indicates that CO2 and NH3 emissions are correlated with temperature. The high NH3 emission rate arises from the decomposition of nitrogen-containing OM, which relates to microbiological
activity. Thus the NH3 emission is inuenced by microbiological
activity and temperature. FW often has high nitrogen content
and leads to NH3 emissions during composting processes, and pollutes ambient environment. As the emitted NH 3 can be traced not
only in off-gas but also in the condensate of composting products,
it may be a feasible option of using cool and moisture-rich condensates to collect the compost off-gas, and then the condensate can
be disposed.

4. Modeling of FW composting processes

Control conditions and environmental parameters signicantly
affect FW composting processes, and simulation approaches help
researchers better understand them. Various mathematical modeling approaches have been extensively used to simulate composting
processes, predict composting performance, improve understanding of composting systems, explore new theoretical concepts, and
even aid in the solution of practical composting design problems
(Kishimoto et al., 1987; Nakasaki et al., 1987; Kaiser, 1996; Hall,
1998; Lin et al., 2008a; Sun et al., 2011). The existing mathematical
models were formulated mainly from both energy and mass balance consideration, with solution typically derived in time and/or
spatially in some cases (Vander Gheynst et al., 1997; Das and Keener, 1997; Hamelers, 2004; Qin et al., 2007; He et al., 2008; Sun
et al., 2011). As FW composting processes are affected by a variety
of biochemical and physical factors and complicated with nonlinearity and uncertainty, efcient models that are able to accurately
predict the composting performance are generally hard to obtain
(Hall, 1998).
Previously, there were many studies conducted to simulate FW
composting processes and some of them involved experimental
verication (Kishimoto et al., 1987; Kaiser, 1996; Stombaugh and
Nokes, 1996; Hall, 1998). A number of impact factors were considered, including temperature, MC, total bulk density, oxygen con-

1253

centration, carbon dioxide content, energy ow, substrate

properties andso on (Stombaugh and Nokes, 1996; Hall, 1998;
Hamelers, 2004). At the same time, various portions of FW composting processes were modeled, such as respiratory activities,
heat transfer, and process kinetics (Haug, 1993; Das and Keener,
1997; Mason, 2006). Generally, the existing simulation efforts for
FW composting processes can be categorized into two groups, i.e.
mechanism models and statistical approaches.
4.1. Mechanism models
In the past, a number of researchers studied the mechanism of
FW composting processes with assistance of the rst-order substrate degradation kinetics and Monod-type expressions (Haug,
1993; Kaiser, 1996; Stombaugh and Nokes, 1996; Das and
Keener, 1997; Sole-Mauri et al., 2007; Lin et al. 2008a). The rst-order kinetics was often used to study about oxygen utilization
(Finger et al., 1976) or volatile solids degradation (Haug, 1993;
Das and Keener, 1997). Finger et al. (1976) did a research that assumed the rate of substrate degradation to be described by a rstorder differential equation in which the rate was a linear function
of remaining substrate. Das and Keener (1997) developed a numerical dynamic model to simulate air recycling in a large-scale composting system. Higgins and Walker (2001) studied the process
dynamics of the aerobic degradation in FW composting and built
a model to predict the rate of carbon dioxideevolution; a kinetic
framework for biological volatile solids oxidation was also provided based on the rate. Aslam et al. (2008) compared the ability
of rst-order, second-order, and Monod kinetic models in predicting carbon mineralization kinetics, and found that the rst-order
model had an equivalent or better t to the data than the others.
There were also some studies focused on the rst-order rate constants for the decomposition of organic waste materials. For example, Sleutel et al. (2005) estimated the rst-order rate constants for
FW composting between 0.01 and 0.07 d 1 (T = 16 C). Crohn and
Valenzuela-Solano (2003) estimated the rst-order rate constants
between 0.03 and 0.08 d 1 (T = 20 C) for the labile fraction of
mulch and papermill sludge.
The Monod-type expressions were another widely used approach to predict substrate degradation (or metabolite production)
rates and oxygen uptake rates. Mathematical formulations focused
on biochemical and physical processes in composting were developed to predict the composting dynamics, and the inclusion of theoretical rather than empirical stoichiometric coefcients assured a
more universal application than the previous works (Kaiser, 1996;
Sole-Mauri et al. 2007; Lin et al., 2008a). Though some of them
were deterministic ones, they succeeded in reecting well-known
phenomena of various composting technologies. Numerical models
were also developed to explore the effect of changes in control
parameters on system dynamics;open and closed loop simulations
were also performed through using the aeration rate to control
temperature (Hall, 1998). With the aid of factorial analysis, the
models could well quantify and describe the inuence of multiple
interacting factors on the composting process in different stages
(Lin et al., 2008b). Conventional Monod kinetics might also serve
as a starting point when biomass was introduced into the model,
and the multiplicative approach used in the rst-order modeling
was suggested to be reconsidered (Hamelers, 2004).
4.2. Statistical approaches
Previously, a number of attempts were undertaken in modeling
FW composting processes, and many of the developed models
were empirical (Kishimoto et al., 1987; Nakasaki et al., 1987; Van
Lier et al., 1994; Vander Gheynst et al., 1997; Seki, 2000). The existing empirical models consisted of linear (Kishimoto et al., 1987;

1254

Z. Li et al. / Chemosphere 93 (2013) 12471257

Nakasaki et al., 1987), polynomial (Van Lier et al., 1994), exponential (Vander Gheynst et al., 1997) and statistical expressions (Seki,
2000). They often utilized oxygen consumption data (Vander Gheynst et al., 1997), carbon dioxide generation data (Nakasaki et al.,
1987) or total solids degradation data (van Lier et al., 1994).
Kishimoto et al. (1987) reported an empirical model in which biological heat generation was expressed in terms of temperature, MC,
cumulative energy and airow rate. Vander Gheynst et al. (1997)
proposed a model that incorporated a power law relationship;
the model was then tted to O2 consumption rates from the composting of dog food substrate over a period of 35 h.
Some researchers believed that there were a variety of uncertainties arising from incomplete or imprecise information exiting
in real-world FW composting systems (Qin et al., 2007; Comas
et al., 2008; Xi et al., 2008). Many mathematical approaches that
were able to address such uncertainties were thus proposed in
the past decades (Liang et al., 2003b; Tang et al., 2006; Zhang
et al., 2008; Lu et al., 2009; Kumar et al., 2009; Sun et al., 2009;
Giusti and Marsili-Libelli, 2010; Sun et al., 2011). As a valuable tool
in facilitating the analysis of systems with uncertainties derived
from vagueness or fuzziness, fuzzy sets theory has been incorporated when simulating FW composting processes under uncertainty (Qin et al., 2007; Comas et al., 2008; Xi et al., 2008; Zhang
et al., 2008; Kumar et al., 2009;Giusti and Marsili-Libelli, 2010).
It can be used to facilitate the managers determining whether uctuations of the composting performance were because of unavoidable system uncertainties or human-induced factors during FW
composting process (Qin et al., 2007). Through integrating fuzzy
vertex andfactorial analysis, the effect of uncertainties in FW composting systems can be systematically characterized (Xi et al.,
2008); the implicit knowledge could be effectively communicated
into composting process modeling and further provided valuable
information for enhancing composting process control under a
variety of uncertainties. Moreover, some researchers used fuzzy
set theory to assess the quality of FW composting products by
advancing a fuzzy version of the principal component analysis
(Zhang et al., 2008) or to predict the maximum in-cycle temperature in the initial part of the composting batch under uncertainty
(Giusti and Marsili-Libelli, 2010).
Recently, several studies employed stochastic approaches to
tackle the random feature of many system components in FW composting. Seki (2000) developed a stochastic model for batch-type
FW composting, wherein the state variables varied stochastically
with each unit increment of concentration; the model was suitable
to predict the expected values and standard deviations of the state
variables at the end of the rst stage of composting processes.
Understanding the relationships between composting state
variables (e.g. surface temperature, ash content, MC, pH) and specic characteristics (e.g. microbial activities, maturity, stability and
so on) is an important step towards providing insightful FW composting operation (Sun et al., 2009). Recently, there has been a
growing interest in using articial intelligence to reect such complicated relationships (Liang et al., 2003b; Tang et al., 2006; Sun
et al., 2009; Sun et al., 2011). Liang et al. (2003b) developed articial neural networks (ANNs) to analyze the relationships between
oxygen uptake rates and state variables including temperature
and MC in FW composting. Tang et al. (2006) combined ANNs with
an enzyme sensor for simultaneous determination of lignin peroxidase secreted by white-rot fungi in composting of agricultural organic solid waste; it was found that the combination of the
amperometric enzyme sensor and ANNs was a rapid, sensitive
and robust method in the quantitative study of composting systems. Sun et al. (2009) developed a stepwise-cluster microbial biomass inference model to tackle the nonlinear relationships among
state variables and microbial activities; the model could help
establish a statistical relationship between state variables and

composting microbial characteristics. Sun et al. (2011) designed a

genetic-algorithm-aided stepwise cluster analysis method to describe the nonlinear relationships between the selected state variables and the C/N ratio in FW composting.

5. Discussions
In general, FW composting can be conducted in two different
patterns, i.e. in-vessel systems and windrow systems (Cekmecelioglu et al., 2005; Kim et al., 2008; Kumar et al., 2010). Comparison
between the two types of systems is provided in Table 6. The invessel systems need higher initial investment and consume more
energy, but require less space and are much controllable; moreover, the raw materials of in-vessel systems must be pretreated
(for example magnetic separation and trammel screen separation).
The windrow systems often have higher peak temperature and retain for a longer time; however, the problems of too much leaching
and gas emission have not been solved. In terms of real world
application, in-vessel systems are often used to dispose urban
FW due to less environmental pollution and easy use of the nal
product, while windrow systems are popular in countryside
though they may affect the ambient environment and structural
instability has been frequently observed. In recent years, some pilot-scale in-vessel composting systems for FW have been designed
to enhance the applicability of in-vessel systems arising from the
limited capacities (Kim et al., 2008), but more in-depth efforts
are still necessary. Besides, the study about how to improve the
efciency and reduce environmental pollution of windrow systems
also attracts more attentions of the related researchers.
Previously, many researchers have studied the additives for FW
composting in adjusting pH, DM, carbon content, Total Kjeldahl
Nitrogen (TKN), water absorption capacity, and C/N ratio. Wood
shavings and wasted animal feed are found to be acid and wheat
pellets and wasted animal feed lack structural stability after
absorbing moisture. Few studies attempted to use buffer salts for
regulating the pH of composting processes. It was found that using
NaAc as additive could lead to a higher OM degradation rate, enhance ammonia loss and maybe improve the microbial activity;
meanwhile, NaAc was able to counteract the adverse effects of organic acids during the initial stage of FW composting processes.
Modeling of FW composting processes is essential for supporting the prediction of system performance under various operating
conditions and thus quantifying relationships between control actions and process efciencies. A good agreement was found between predicted and experimental results on the evolution of
temperature, oxygen in the exhaust gas, carbon and nitrogen content, and ammonium. However, due to the complex biological and
physicochemical interactions of composting, more systematical efforts are necessary to make the simulation models more universal
and accurate. Deterministic models could obtain spatial averages
of the state variables corresponding to the primary information
about composting processes, but the secondary information such
as variances of the state variables is unavailable, which can be
accomplished by stochastic models.
Some researchers used intelligence algorithms to simulate the
process and predict results of FW composting, and the proposed
models have been successfully applied to tackle the nonlinear relationships in FW composting processes. The state variables used in
the models could be any variables (e.g. pH, MC, ash content, N
content, total C, total N, oxygen concentration and bacterial
counts) measured during composting processes. To ensure good
performance of intelligence algorithms, a careful design of tness
functions to balance the accuracy should be indispensable. A large
number of training and calibrated data would also promote the

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Z. Li et al. / Chemosphere 93 (2013) 12471257

Table 6
Comparison between in-vessel and windrow FW composting systems.

In-vessel
systems
Windrow
systems

Initial
cost

Energy
consumption

Raw materials
pretreatment

Leaching and emitted

gas

Space

Peak
temperature

Structure
stability

Real-world
application

High

High

Complex

Solved

Small

Low

Good

Urban

Low

Low

Simple

Not solved

Large

High

Bad

Countryside

accuracy of intelligence algorithms, particularly when they are applied to large-scale composting systems.

6. Future research needs

Currently, composting is considered as one of the most suitable
approaches for disposing solid FW. However, the nal product of
FW compost should be of high quality in order to guarantee its
marketability. Our ultimate goal is to obtain desired nal product
while the operation cost would be as cheap as possible. However,
the possibility of accomplishing this goal is affected by many complexities that exist in the processes. In the following sections, potential directions that may be useful for better understanding the
insights of FW composting processes will be discussed.

6.1. Experimental efforts

6.1.1. Screening of multi-functional additives
Some characteristics of FW are benecial to composting but
some are not. According to the previous efforts, various types of
additives showing different functions in adjusting the properties
of initial substrates have been reported (Chang and Hsu, 2008;
Chang and Chen, 2010). However, suitable additives with multiple
functions (e.g. increasing C/N ratio, control pH level, decrease MC
and so on) would be much efcient from the view of cost saving
and product quality control. Further studies may be focused on
the screening of multi-functional additives, as well as the optimal
amount and time of addition during FW composting reaction.

6.1.2. VOC emission control

Due to the malodorous and hazardous properties, VOCs are often treated as potential air pollutants. During FW composting or
co-composting processes, a large number of VOCs are emitted from
the facilities, which highly threaten the surrounding public health.
However, there have been few studies related to VOCs emission
control during FW composting processes. There is thus a need of
researches regarding the identication of type and concentration
of VOC emission, as well as the development of control techniques.

6.2. Simulation approaches

6.2.1. Process simulation
Mechanism models have been widely used to simulate composting processes. However, most of them were developed based
on a number of assumptions and simplication, leading to their
low accuracy and high limitation in applying it for simulating FW
composting processes. This should be improved particularly when
complex reactions among and within the three phases of matter
are simultaneously considered. Furthermore, the mass transfer
between and within the gas and liquid phases, mechanism of
short-chain organic acid and ammonication with regard to the
dynamics of microbial activities, also deserve further efforts.

6.2.2. Parameter uncertainty and relationship nonlinearity

Uncertain parameters and nonlinear relationships widely exist
in FW composting systems. In the previous studies, fuzzy sets theory and articial neural networks were employed to tackle such
complexity (Sun et al., 2009). In fact, there are a number of mathematical tools showing such capability, like interval mathematical
analysis, statistical approaches (e.g. regression analysis), and many
AI-based techniques (e.g. genetic algorithm, simulated annealing).
They may also be incorporated into the simulation framework of
FW composting processes. The conjunctive use of multiple mathematical tools is also expected to better deal with more complicated
FW composting problems and to pursue high efciency and
accuracy.
6.3. Process control and quality control techniques
Process control was dened as the process of planning and regulating, with the objective of performing the process in an effective
and efcient way (Qin et al., 2009). FW composting is a multiobjective problem, including reduction of odor and organic acids,
recycling of nutrients to soils, and management of FW through
an integrated approach. In order to achieve these objectives, FW
composting processes must be well controlled. The challenge for
process control involves the complex and inherent difculty in predicting the behavior of biological systems. The previous studies
mainly focused on system dynamic and empirical control as well
as a few mathematical efforts. They could not address the dynamics and complexity of FW composting completely. The process control techniques, such as proportional control, integral control, and
different control techniques, are effective in improving product
quality, enhancing reaction efciency, and reducing costs of FW
composting processes (Lin, 2006). They are potentially useful for
subsurface remediation studies. More approaches of modeling predictive control and AI-based process control are desired for FW
composting studies.

7. Conclusions
This review focused on the overall studies of FW composting,
not only various parameters signicantly affecting the processes
and nal results, but also a number of simulation approaches that
were greatly instrumental in well understanding the process
mechanism and/or results prediction. Implications of many key
ingredients on FW composting performance were also discussed.
In general, the characteristics of FW still offered a unique challenge to the researchers, since the basic knowledge of FW composting was inadequate for supporting successful processes with
high efciency. Thus, perspectives of effective laboratory experiments and computer-based simulation were nally investigated,
demonstrating many demanding areas for enhanced research
efforts, including the screening of multi-functional additives, VOC
emission control, necessity of modeling and post-modeling
analysis, and usefulness of developing more conjunctive AI-based
process control techniques.

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Z. Li et al. / Chemosphere 93 (2013) 12471257

Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (41271540), China National Funds for Excellent Young Scientists (51222906), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of China (NCET-11-0632), and
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. The
authors are extremely grateful to the editor and the anonymous
reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.
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