Laboratoire Chimie Provence, Université Aix-Marseille, CNRS, Equipe Chimie Environnement Continental -3 Place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille Cedex 3, France
The presence of a high level of organic matter in solid household waste is a positive criterion for considering waste recovery through composting.This research aimed at studying of the impact of the fermentable fraction of municipal solid waste during composting. Five (5) mixtures have been developed and in each of the treatments, the added fermentable fraction represents 25 or 50% of the removed fraction. The temperature, Total Organic Carbon, nitrogen and pH values of each treatment were determined during the maturation process of the compost manufacturing trials according to the different constituents.Results revealed a strong positive correlation (r2= 0.8566) between the total organic carbon and the fraction of total organic matter in the mixtures submitted to composting. From the analysis of the compost treatments carried out, it appears that the inputs of the T50v treatment (treatment obtained by substituting 50% of vegetable matter with the fermentable fraction of the MSW) are well degraded at the end of composting. Consequently, they would bring a substantial quantity of organic matter as a soil amendment, despite a slightly high C/N ratio that could be compensated by an input of nitrogen compounds. This mixture could enrich the soil with a substantial quantity of humic substances.