Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 20 No 6 (2016): 1447 - 1457

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/mjas-2016-2006-25

 

 

 

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CHANGES DURING CO-COMPOSTING OF MODEL KITCHEN WASTE, RICE BRAN AND DRIED LEAVES WITH DIFFERENT MICROBIAL INOCULANTS

 

(Perubahan Fiziko-Kimia dan Biologi dalam Pengkomposan Bersama Sisa Dapur, Dedak Padi dan Daun Kering dengan Mikrob Inokulan Yang Berbeza)

 

Yee Van Fan¹, Chew Tin Lee¹*, Chee Woh Leow¹, Lee Suan Chua², Mohamad Roji Sarmidi²

 

¹Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering

²Institute of Bioproduct Development

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor. Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: ctlee@utm.my

 

 

Received: 21 October 2015; Accepted: 14 June 2016

 

 

Abstract

Disposal of food waste either by land-filling or incineration will cause environmental pollution and engaged in high treatment costs. Composting can be a viable food waste management, however, less research works has focused on the degradation of small scale kitchen waste. In this study, co-composting of model kitchen waste, dried leaves and rice bran were inoculated with four different sources of microbial inoculants (MI) namely commercial Effective Microorganism (EM), Tempeh, Tapai, a mixture of Tempeh and Tapai and water as a control. It was found that the temperature of all four composting materials with MI can be heated up to a higher temperature (>50 ^oC) than the control and produced less offensive smells. All composts ended with a neutral or weakly alkaline pH value (pH 7 – 8) and a C:N ratio of around 10 which indicating the maturation of composts. For enzymatic activities, the highest activity of amylase (73 – 129 U/g) and cellulase (75 – 148 U/g) occurred at the beginning of the composting process. The maximum activities of lipase (5 – 10 U/g) and protease (46 – 72 U/g) were at the middle stage of the composting process. The germination indexes of the five composts were larger than 100% indicating non-phytotoxic. Although the temperature profile and odour performance were outstanding in the presence of MI, most other parameters did not show significant differences when co-compositing of small scale model kitchen waste was carried out with an adequate initial C:N ratio and moisture content. Further study is needed to distinguish the potential beneficiary effects of MI for the composting of kitchen waste. Nevertheless, the comparable performance of Tempeh and Tapai with EM in composting suggested that Tempeh and Tapai can be used to substitute the function of EM as a cheaper and more available microbial source for the household.

 

Keywords:  composting, kitchen wastes, effective microorganisms, tempeh, tapai

 

Abstrak

Pelupusan sisa makanan sama ada di tapak pelupusan atau pembakaran akan menyebabkan pencemaran alam sekitar dan menglibatkan kos rawatan yang tinggi. Pengkomposan merupakan cara pengurusan sisa makanan yang berpotensi tetapi kerja penyelidikan terkini kurang memberi tumpuan kepada degradasi sisa dapur yang berskala kecil. Melalui kajian ini, sisa model dapur, daun kering dan dedak padi telah dirawat dengan empat sumber mikrob yang berbeza iaitu komersial Mikroorganisma Efektif (EM), Tempeh, Tapai, campuran Tempeh dan Tapai dan air sebagai kawalan. Didapati bahawa suhu keempat – empat bahan kompos yang dirawat dengan inokulan mikrob boleh mencapai suhu yang lebih tinggi (>50 ^oC) berbanding kawalan dan menghasilkan bau yang kurang busuk. Semua kompos telah berakhir dengan nilai pH yang neutral atau beralkali lemah  (pH 7-8) dengan nisbah C:N lebih kurang 10 yang menunjukkan kematangan kompos. Untuk aktiviti enzim, aktiviti tertinggi amilase (73 – 129 U/g) dan selulase (75 – 148 U/g) berlaku pada awal proses pengkomposan. Manakala, aktiviti maksimum lipase (5 – 10 U/g) dan protease (46 – 72 U/g) berada di peringkat pertengahan proses pengkomposan. Indeks percambahan kelima-lima kompos adalah lebih besar daripada 100% menunjukkan ketiadaan fitotoksik. Walaupun profil suhu dan prestasi bau adalah cemerlang, inokulan mikrob tidak menunjukkan keperluannya dari segi aspek – aspek lain. Keperluan inokulan mikrob dalam proses pengkomposan sisa dapur perlu ditentusahkan secara lebih mendalam dengan analisis yang lain. Walau bagaimanapun, prestasi inokulasi yang disediakan daripada Tempeh dan Tapai adalah setanding dengan EM. Ini mencadangkan bahawa ia boleh menggantikan EM sebagai sumber yang lebih murah dan lebih tersedia kepada rumah tangga.

 

Kata kunci:  pengkomposan, sisa makanan, mikroorganisma efektif, tempeh, tapai

 

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