Establishment of an inspection standard for decomposition and methane production rates of organic waste co-digestion facilities in Korea.

Domestic organic waste resources have increased over the past decade and treatment of this waste via co-digested biogasification facilities is increasing annually. However, inspection standards for such facilities are not well-established. Herein, we aimed to derive calculation formulas and factors related to organic matter decomposition efficiency and methane production rate in accordance with waste treatment facility inspection standards. We also aimed to determine the optimum waste mixing ratio. Sample (field) surveys of 18 treatment facilities and complete enumeration of 110 facilities were conducted. Calculation formulas and factors were derived using the survey data and biochemical methane potential (BMP) test. The calculated coefficients derived through the BMP test were 0.512 m ³ CH ₄ /kgVS _in for food waste, 0.601 m ³ CH ₄ /kgVS _in for livestock manure, and 0.382 m ³ CH ₄ /kgVS _in for sewage sludge. The final derived calculation factors were 65.0% for food waste, 36.0% for livestock manure, and 20.0% for sewage sludge for organic matter decomposition efficiency, and 0.380 m ³ CH ₄ /kgVS _in for food waste, 0.27 m ³ CH ₄ /kgVS _in for livestock manure, and 0.140 m ³ CH ₄ /kgVS _in for sewage sludge for methane production rates. The derived effective capacity calculation factors can be utilized in future waste treatment facility inspection methods by aiding in the establishment of appropriate inspection standards for co-digested biogasification facilities other than single food waste treatment facilities. In addition, the optimum mixing ratio can be used as design data for co-digested biogasification facilities.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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