AN ASSESSMENT OF AEROBIC COMPOST QUALITY: COLLECTION AND ANALYSES OF EXISTING ONTARIO DATA

Transcription

1 AN ASSESSMENT OF AEROBIC COMPOST QUALITY: COLLECTION AND ANALYSES OF EXISTING ONTARIO DATA Preseted at the Natioal Compost Coferece The Compost Coucil of Caada September -3, 23 Toroto, Otario Lambert Otte, Ph.D., P.Eg.,Welligto Applied Scieces Ltd Cambridge Otario; Professor Emeritus, Uiversity of Guelph Cecily Ae Flemmig, M.Sc., Stadards Developmet Brach, Otario Miistry of the Eviromet, Toroto

2 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF AEROBIC COMPOST PRODUCED IN ONTARIO FROM MUNICIPAL AND ICI ORGANIC WASTES. TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF FEEDSTOCK ON THE QUALITY OF COMPOST. 2

3 APPROACH ANALYZE COMPOST QUALITY DATA COVERING THE PERIOD OF 25 TO 2 OBTAINED FROM a) large muicipal ad private compostig facilities that process source-separated orgaics (>4, t/yr) (icludig diapers, pet waste, maures ad biosolids) a) large leaf ad yard waste operatios 3

4 FACILITIES WITH SUFFICIENT DATA 3 SSO AND 2 L&Y FACILITIES RESPONDED OF WHICH 9 SSO AND L&Y FACILITIES WERE LARGE ENOUGH AND PROVIDED ENOUGH USEFUL DATA TO BE INCLUDED IN THE STUDY 4

5 SCOPE OF STUDY The participatig facilities represet oly 38% (8 of 47) of the facilities curretly subject to a CofA i Otario (oe facility operated uder a Permit by Rule uder Otario Regulatios /94); HOWEVER, the study captured about 9% of the total SSO ad 8% of the L&Y material composted i Otario. 5

6 DATA AND INFORMATION COLLECTED. Descriptio of the facility. 2. Summary of techology ad compostig process. 3. Acceptable orgaic waste, ed markets, ad material flow. 4. Laboratory aalyses. 6

7 FEEDSTOCK AND MATURE COMPOST PARAMETERS HEAVY METALS* Arseic Cadmium Chromium Cobalt Copper Lead Mercury Molybdeum Nickel Seleium Zic MATURITY* Respiratio rate Solvita Idex PHYSICAL PROPERTIES Moisture cotet Bulk desity *Regulated parameters MOE Guidelies 24 CHEMICAL PROPERTIES ph Lime idex Available OM Potassium Phosphorus Sulphur Magesium Calcium Iro Magaese Zic Copper Boro Sodium NO3-N Total itroge Total carbo Soluble salts C/N PCBs NON-BIODEGR. PARTICULATES * Foreig Matter: glass stoes plastics Sharps: eedles glass PATHOGENS E.coli: fecal coliforms Salmoella 7

8 DATA PROCESSING Goodess-of-fit (GOF) plot costructed for each data set (e.g. arseic cocetratios) to idetify observatios that are much larger or smaller tha the rest of the data set: potetial outliers If potetial outliers were idetified, statistical tests were applied to determie the probability that the observatio does ot fit the distributio of the rest of the observatios. Each statistical outlier was reviewed to determie its proper dispositio. 8

9 GOF PLOT OF LEAD S7 S2 S S8 9

10 RESULTS PRESENTED FOR EACH PARAMETER:. OUTLIERS, NON-DETECTS, COMPARISON WITH REGULATORY LIMITS OR RECOMMENDED VALUES 2. STATISTICAL PARAMETERS 3. POOLED DATA

11 Arseic outliers,, ad limit compariso. ARSENIC (L=3 ppm) SSO S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 No. out % > L 6 Mea (% of L) L&Y LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY No. out % > L Mea (% of L) Data for other te regulated metals foud at the ed of the presetatio.

12 PCB RESULTS PCB (.5 ppm) SSO No. out % > L L&Y No. out % > L S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 * LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY * Blak idicates that data was ot submitted may ot be required by CoA 2

13 PATHOGEN CONTENT SSO L&Y FECAL COLIFORMS (MPN/g) SALMONELLA spp. (MPN/4g) FECAL COLIFORMS (MPN/g) SALMONELLA spp. (MPN/4g) SSO % > % >3 L&Y % > % >3 S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY

14 TOTAL NON-BIODEGRADABLE MATTER TOTAL NON-BIODEGRADABLE MATTER S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 SSO % > L L&Y 9 4 LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY % > L 3 L = 2.% dry wt 4

15 C/N, CEC AND ph RESULTS COMPARED WITH DESIRED VALUES % OF OBSERVATIONS IN RANGE OR BELOW LIMIT C/N 2-22 CEC <3.5 ms/cm ph L&Y C/N 2-22 CEC <3.5 ms/cm ph S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY

16 STATISTICS Data sets grouped based o the umber of observatios i which the aalyte could be detected: amely, all etries were discrete umerical observatios; all etries were either <LOD (umerical value of limit of detectio) or as BDL (below detectio limit); or mix of observatios ad LODs. Each group was processed differetly to calculate the statistical parameters (e.g., sample mea, stadard deviatio, medium, 95 th percetile, variace, etc.). Details of methods ad results are i the report oly some examples are preseted 6

17 copper (ppm) MEANS (RED) AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS (BLUE) COPPER copper ( ppm)

18 POOLED DATA INDIVIDUAL PARAMETER OBSERVATIONS PROVIDED BY ALL SSO (L&Y) FACILITIES WERE POOLED. (e.g. all As observatios were treated as a sigle data set) CHECKED FOR OUTLIERS OF POOLED DATA COMPARED WITH LIMITS OR DESIRED VALUES CALCULATED STATISTICS USED TO COMPARE SSO AND L&Y DATA USED TO COMPARE METALS IN SSO COMPOST WITH METALS IN FEEDSTOCK 8

19 As stadard = 3 ppm Cd stadard = 3 ppm 9

20 Cocetratio (ppm) STATISTICS OF POOLED METAL DATA SSO mea SSO std L&Y mea L&Y std 5 Chromium Copper Lead Nickel LIMIT (ppm)

21 S S2 S4 S5 S7 S8 S9 S S2 S4 S5 S7 S8 S9 As (ppm) Compariso Metal Cotets of Compost ad Feedstock arseic (3 ppm) compost feedstock 2

22 Statistics of Pooled Maturity ad Quality Parameters *Compost Quality Alliace values (CQA) Compost Coucil of Caada 22

23 COMPOST MATURITY DATA SUPPLIED BY FACILITIES Stability (maturity) determiatio is required before compost leaves the site for urestricted use. Oly 56% of SSO ad 6% of L&Y facilities reported oe of the maturity tests. Default optio is to leave compost o site for six moths but o facility provided evidece. 23

24 respiratio (mg CO2-C/g OM/d) MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION OF THE RESPIRATION RATES 4 respiratio rate S S2 S8 S9 LY LY4 LY5 LY8 LY9 LY Mature compost: respiratio rate is < 4 mg CO 2 -C/g OM/d (22 Stadards) 24

25 SOLVITA INDEX RESULTS SOLVITA INDEX SSO % > 7 L&Y % > 7 S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY desigates mature, stable compost 25

26 CONCLUSIONS MATURE COMPOST DATA RECEIVED All facilities submitted cocetratios of regulated metals. Some failed to iclude the o-biodegradable particulate cotet or maturity i the aalyses. Some facilities reported several quality parameters of iterest to the user (e.g., utriets, soluble salts). Oly 3 facilities icluded the complete QC/QA aalysis recommeded by the Compost Coucil of Caada. 26

27 CONCLUSIONS - REGULATED METALS VALID METAL OBSERVATIONS WERE BELOW THE RESPECTIVE ALLOWABLE LIMITS THE MEANS OF MOST METALS WERE SMALL COMPARED WITH THEIR LIMITS FEW OF THE OUTLIERS EXCEEDED THE LIMIT 27

28 CONCLUSIONS - POOLED REGULATED METALS 95 TH PERCENTILES OF THE POOLED METALS AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE LIMIT WERE LOW lowest value of 5% was for Hg; highest value of 67% was for Cu. MAJORITY OF POOLED CADMIUM, MERCURY, SELENIUM AND MOLYDBENUM OBSERVATIONS WERE POOLED DATA SHOWED THAT CONCENTRATIONS OF METALS WERE GENERALLY SIMILAR FOR SSO AND L&Y COMPOST 28

29 CONCLUSIONS PCB CONCENTRATIONS 328 PCB OBSERVATIONS ONLY 4 OBSERVATIONS (.4,.28,.38 ad.55 ppm) EXCEEDED THE L.O.D. OF. ppm ONLY OUTLIER OBSERVATION (.55 ppm) EXCEEDED THE GUIDELINE LIMIT OF.5 ppm. PCBs DO NOT APPEAR TO BE AN ISSUE IN MATURE COMPOST 29

30 CONCLUSIONS PATHOGENS 37 fecal coliforms ad 322 Salmoella observatios very low cocetratios of fecal coliforms were detected, ad oly i about 5% of the samples samples (3% of all samples) exceeded the fecal coliform regulatory limit 3 Salmoella observatios (<% of all samples) exceeded the regulatory limit 3

31 CONCLUSIONS - PATHOGENS oe facility had 5 samples that exceeded the fecal coliform limit, it does ot accept diapers or pet waste two other facilities with o samples exceedig the limit do accept diapers ad pet waste pathoge cotet was ot a sigificat issue i mature compost the pathoge iactivatio requiremets of the 24 Iterim Guidelies appear to work. 3

32 CONCLUSIONS NON-BIODEGRADABLE CONTAMINANTS ALL BUT 4 FACILITIES PROVIDED DATA MAJORITY OF OBSERVATIONS WERE ONLY 2 OBSERVATIONS OUT OF 292 EXCEEDED ONE OF THE LIMITS (excludig S3) SCREENING SUCCESSFULLY REMOVES THE NON- BIODEGRADABLE CONTAMINANTS 32

33 CONCLUSIONS MATURITY Reported maturity data idicate that the majority of samples met the stadards. Most Solvita values were reported to be 8 which accordig to Woods Ed Research Laboratories Ic. should oly occur whe the compost has o greater biological activity tha soil which would be uusual! 33

34 CONCLUSIONS AGRICULTURAL PARAMETERS Quality parameters of iterest to the user compared well with the desired values set by the Compost Coucil of Caada Moisture cotet, total phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magesium, C/N ratio ad orgaic matter were i lie with or better tha the values used to describe good compost. Soluble salt cotet of SSO compost was sigificatly (5% level) higher tha that of L&Y compost ad likely too high for use other tha a soil amedmet. 34

35 CONCLUSIONS FEEDSTOCK DATA 7 SSO FACILITIES PROVIDED LIMITED RESULTS. FREQUENCY OF SAMPLING APPEARED TO BE LESS THAN WAS EXPECTED FROM THE GUIDELINES. NONE OF THE L&Y FACILITIES SUBMITTED FEEDSTOCK DATA. 35

36 RECOMMENDATIONS. Give the fact that <% of the observatios were at or above the PCB limit, it was recommeded that the samplig frequecy be reviewed with the objective of relaxig the requiremet. 2. A respiratio test appears to be the more reliable test of microbial activity ad should be required to determie the maturity of SSO-derived compost. 3. It was recommeded that Miistry cotiue to moitor the quality of compost produced i Otario. 36

37 ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to thak the may folks whose cotributios were vital to this project: Participatig Compost Facilities i Otario MOE Operatios Divisio (Adrew Mobberley, Melissa Evers) MOE Stadards Developmet Brach (Jeifer Khemai, Marius Marsh) MOE Waste Maagemet Policy Brach (Jeifer Turbull, Rebecca Bell) Compost Coucil of Caada (Susa Atler) 37

38 For further iformatio please cotact: Cecily Flemmig, MSc Scietist Biosolids ad Soils Stadards Ecological Stadards Sectio Stadards Developmet Brach Miistry of the Eviromet 4 St. Clair Ave. W., 7 th Floor Toroto, ON M4V M Cecily.flemmig@otario.ca 38

39 APPENDIX SUMMARY INFORMATION OF REGULATED METALS AND COMPARISON OF NITROGEN, POSPHORUS AND POTASSIUM CONTENT WITH DESIRED VALUES 39

40 Arseic outliers,, ad limit compariso. ARSENIC (L=3 ppm)* SSO S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY No. out % > L Mea (% of L)

41 Cadmium outliers,, ad limit compariso. CADMIUM (L= 3 ppm) SSO S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY No. out % > L Mea (% of L)

42 Chromium outliers,, ad limit compariso. CHROMIUM (L= 2 ppm) SSO No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y No. out % > L Mea (% of L) S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY

43 Cobalt outliers,, ad limit compariso. COBALT (L= 34 ppm) SSO S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY No. out % > L Mea (% of L)

44 Copper outliers,, ad limit compariso. COPPER (L= ppm) SSO S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY No. out % > L Mea (% of L)

45 Lead outliers,, ad limit compariso. LEAD (L= 5 ppm) SSO S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY No. out % > L Mea (% of L)

46 Mercury outliers,, ad limit compariso MERCURY (L=.8 ppm) SSO S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY No. out % > L Mea (% of L)

47 Molybdeum outliers,, ad limit compariso. MOLYBDENUM (L= 5 ppm) SSO No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y No. out % > L Mea (% of L) S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY

48 Nickel outliers,, ad limit compariso. NICKEL (L= 62 ppm) SSO No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y No. out % > L Mea (% of L) S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY

49 Seleium outliers,, ad limit compariso. SELENIUM (L= 2 ppm) SSO No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y No. out % > L Mea (% of L) S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY

50 Zic outliers,, ad limit compariso. ZINC (L= 5 ppm) SSO S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 No. out % > L Mea (% of L) L&Y LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY No. out % > L Mea (% of L)

51 STATISTICS OF POOLED METAL DATA SSO L&Y Limit (ppm):

52 NITROGEN, POSPHORUS AND POTASSIUM COMPARISON WITH DESIRED VALUES % OF OBSERVATIONS ABOVE MINIMUM SSO N %>.6* P %>.25 K %>.2 L&Y N %>.6 P %>.25 K %>.2 S S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S LY LY2 LY3 LY4 LY5 LY6 LY7 LY8 LY9 LY *All o % dry mass basis 52