Estudo da compostabilidade de resíduos de usinas de açúcar e de álcool.

Abstract

The Sugar and Alcohol Plants are characterized by production of a large amount of organic waste, Sugarcane bagasse, filter cake and vinhoto, which due to their polluting characteristics must not be released into the environment without first undergoing a treatment process (Rameh, 1080; Bichara and Pizysieznig, 1991D. Believing that the treatment and recycling of these waste with the production of an organic fertilizer to be used in the cultivation of sugar cane, whether the solution best way to eliminate the environmental impacts caused by these industries, is that the present work had as main objective to define a co-composting methodology for these waste. In this research the method of composting by overturning also known as Windrow process. During the research, the need for inoculum was studied (bovine manure) and the percentage composition of mixture waste that would provide better conditions for compostability. Windrows were set up with the waste from power plants of sugar; with waste from Autonomous Distilleries; and windrows with waste from sugar mills with an attached distillery. The windrows were built on a pilot scale (1 to 3 tons) and on a actual workload (17.5 tonnes). The monitoring of the process was carried out through physical analysis (density and temperature); physical - chemical (content in . humidity and ph); chemicals (compostable organic carbon, total nitrogen, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, copper and manganese); bacteriological (determination of fecal streptococci), in addition to daily observations, such as: color, odor and attraction of vectors. At the end of an average composting period of 160 days, time considered excellent when it comes to cellulolytic materials (cane bagasse), an organic compound with a high degree of stabilization and humification, presenting C / N ratio average of 10: 1 for the inoculated material of Waste from Sugar and 15: 1 to 6 inoculated material from Distilleries Autonomous and an average C / N ratio of 13: 1 for the inoculated with Sugar Mill Waste with Attached Distillery. The methodology now proposed is characterized by presenting low cost and high operational flexibility, which can be applied in any work scale.