Utilization of a Novel Technology to Rapidly Valorize Food Waste into an Organic Fertiliser

The valorization of food waste, particularly in a manner that is decentralized has significant potential to enhance to reuse of organic wastes. A novel technology which converts raw organic waste, particularly vegetable and food waste a de-graded material in approximately 24 hours as a bio fertiliser. The material which is pathogen free and stable and has a texture similar to humic soil conditioner and an aromatic characteristic similar to that of coffee grind . This material is created through the use of a bio-digester. During the process, the food digester or bio-digester does not require any additional fresh water and has little to no grey water discharge to the sewers, environmental conditions dependent. A cultivated and unique consortium of hydrolytic and mesophilic enzymes are added to the pre-conditioned chamber that aggressively breaks down the raw material. This chamber is controlled and monitored to maintain optimum mesophilic conditions throughout the 24-hour period. During the processing of food waste, emissions were recorded as being minimal. The addition of the enzyme had a significant effect on the organic matter characteristics and on the nutrient profile on the material. The nutrient profile, pH, electrical conductivity, heavy metal content, and other parameters of the material produced from the process over a number of years was determined. These data indicate very low levels of heavy metals and reasonable levels of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Controlled growth studies were conducted to ascertain the comparative growth performance of a model crop, perennial rye grass when grown in soil treated with the material, biowaste compost (BWC) and composted green waste (CGW), all applied at three rates. Overall, the biomass from pots treated with degraded food waste material were higher than pots treated with a biowaste and green waste compost at com-parative application rates on a volume basis. Analysis of the grass for agronom-ically important macronutrients, such as N, P and K, indicated higher uptake rates of these nutrients in the experimental material treated pots over four harvests. Despite higher uptake the residual total nitrogen (N) and available phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) were higher in the soil after the 4th harvest. The product produced from the food waste processing has a high potential as a viable organ-ic/biofertilizer fertilizer and fits in with the EU strong policy of the Circular Economy and new EU Fertiliser Regulations which promotes organic fertilizer as against mineral fertilizer. The most substantial benefits of such a technology are both the very short turn around and the reduced emissions of GHG gasses re-leased during the processing.