Composting High Moisture Materials : Bio-Drying Livestock Manure in a Sequentially Fed Reactor

Composting has gained rapid acceptance as a method of recyling relatively dry organic materials such as leaves and brush and , when alternative disposal costs are high, even moist materials such as grass clippings and dewatered sewage sludges. However, as moisture contents rise above 60% , the need for a dry bulking amendment increase the costs of composting , both by direct purchases of amendment and though increased reactor capacity and materials handling requirements. High moisture materials also present increased risks of anaerobic odor formation through reduced oxygen transport (Miller , 1991) . These costs and operational challengers often constrain the opportunities to compost high moisture materials such as agricultural manures. During the last several decades economies of scale in livestock production have been increasing livestock densities and creating manure management challenges throughout the world. This issue is particularly pressing in Korea, where livestock arms typically manage little or no cropland, and the nutrients and boichemical oxygen demand in manure pose a serious threat to water quality. Composting has recently become popular as a means of recycling manure into products for sale off the farm, but bulking amendments (usually sawdust) are expensive designed to minimize bulking agent requirements by using the energy liberated by decompostion. In this context the composting reactor is used as a biological dryer, allowing the repeated use of bulking amendment with several batches of manure.