A review on the trends and technologies in biomass composting

Abstract

Biomass resources abound in the Philippines, including agricultural crop residues, forest residues, animal waste, agro-industrial waste, urban solid waste, and aquatic garbage. The common agricultural wastes in the country are rice straws, rice husks, corn cobs, sugarcane debris, cacao waste, coconut shell, and coconut. Composting is the controlled aerobic biological breakdown of organic materials into a stable, humus-like product called compost. It's essentially the same process as natural decomposition, but it's accelerated and enhanced by mixing organic waste with other substances that promote microbial development. Composting has long been recognized as an effective method for recycling organic waste. However, despite its benefits, traditional composting still faces several limitations that hinder its wider adoption and efficiency. According to Ayilara, et al. [1], the major challenges include difficulty in detecting and controlling pathogens, inconsistent material quality, prolonged composting and mineralization periods, and issues related to odor generation. These constraints reduce overall productivity and limit the potential of composting as a scalable waste management solution. Chemical fertilizers contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, environmental degradation, the extinction of soil organisms, marine life, ozone layer depletion, and even human diseases. Composting agricultural wastes has been a regular technique among farmers in rural areas in recent years. With the inclusion of other materials, organic waste is degraded into organic fertilizer in a natural composting process. Compost is acknowledged as one technique to improve the soil's nutritional status by releasing accessible nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from additional organic leftovers via microbial decomposition. Composting is an important part of agriculture since it promotes the recycling of farm waste. Due to the presence of materials that take longer to compost, particularly during co-composting, and a lack of proper composting technology, the protracted composting process and laborious hand mixing of the compost pile are definitely challenging. This review article examines how waste is managed through different composting methods, different elements that affect composting, the long composting processes and the theories behind them, compost bioreactor technologies, and current trends and future possibilities in composting. In addition, this review article also shows that the degradable organic components used in composts are evaluated for their capacity to mineralize slowly, making them beneficial to crops. As a result, the composting processes have been improved.