Electric field-assisted aerobic composting (EAAC) is a simple and effective process. To further improve the EAAC process and make good use of waste heat during composting, in this study, we designed an in situ thermoelectric generator using thermoelectric sheets and applied it for EAAC. The findings show that the voltage generated was 8.8–18.6 V, and the maximum power was over 7 W. A direct current-to-direct current (DC-DC) voltage converter was used to stabilize the output at 6.0 V. Self-powered EAAC (sp-EAAC) enhanced compost maturity compared to conventional aerobic composting (CAC). The germination index reached 118% and 88% in sp-EAAC and CAC, respectively, at the end of composting. This work verified that the temperature gap between compost and the environment could be used for the EAAC process, opening a new way to recover waste heat during aerobic composting and accelerate compost maturity.

电场辅助有氧堆肥（EAAC）是一个简单而有效的过程。为了进一步改善EAAC工艺并在堆肥过程中充分利用余热，在本研究中，我们设计了一个原位使用热电板的热电发电机，并将其应用于EAAC。研究结果表明，产生的电压为8.8-18.6 V，最大功率超过7W。使用直流电至直流（DC-DC）电压转换器将输出稳定在6.0V。与常规有氧堆肥（CAC）相比，EAAC（sp-EAAC）提高了堆肥的成熟度。堆肥结束时，sp-EAAC和CAC的发芽指数分别达到118％和88％。这项工作验证了堆肥与环境之间的温差可用于EAAC过程，从而开辟了一种新方法，可在有氧堆肥过程中回收废热并加速堆肥的成熟。