Degradation of soil amendments produced from municipal organic waste digestate during a two-year field study

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • C. Knoop - , Brandenburg University of Technology (Author)
  • N. Dietrich - , Brandenburg University of Technology (Author)
  • M. Heinrich - , Brandenburg University of Technology (Author)
  • C. Dornack - , Chair of Waste Management and Circular Economy (Author)
  • T. Raab - , Brandenburg University of Technology (Author)

Abstract

The structural degradation of agricultural soils is an increasing problem of our times caused by intense land use. The treatment of soils with organic amendments shall maintain and improve long-term soil fertility. Solid residues from anaerobic digestion of municipal organic waste (MOW) are rich in nutrients and organic matter and have a promising potential to be used as soil amendment. Our research investigates the characteristics of differently treated amendments produced from MOW digestate. We want to know how long these amendments are present in the soil and which amendment type contributes most to nutrient provision after application. Results were obtained using four different MOW digestate amendments of one origin (loose, pelletized and agglomerated) during a 24-hours shaker-experiment and a bag-experiment on grassland, which was subsequently sampled over 21 months. Results show that short-term element leaching is higher from loose amendment and small agglomerates, probably caused by higher surface area und lower stability of these amendments. Biggest degradation effects can be seen 7 months after application to soil. However, all four amendments are still present after 21 months. Pelletized amendments are more degradation resistant than loose amendment, which may be advantageous regarding long-term effects e.g. on water holding capacity. In turn, loose material delivers a higher share of small organic particles to soil and may therefore have a higher contribution to humus development.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1720-1723
Number of pages4
JournalEuropean Biomass Conference and Exhibition Proceedings
Volume2017
Issue number25thEUBCE
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2017
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0001-5081-2558/work/160480070

Keywords

Keywords

  • Anaerobic digestion, Digestate recycling, Organic waste, Pelletisation, Soil fertility