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Monitoring of a III-Phase Olive Pomace Composting Process Using the CIELAB Colorimetric Method

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Abstract

An industrial scale of composting process using III-phase Olive Mill Wastes (OMW) was monitored using CIELAB color variables in order to correlate them with critical physicochemical compost variables. The compost variables that were measured during the composting process were the following: (1) Ash content (Ash, %), (2) pH, (3) Electrical Conductivity (EC, mS/cm), (4) Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN,%), (5) Fulvic and (6) Humic acids content (FA and HA, mg/g), (7) Carbon/ Nitrogen ratio, (8) Ammonia/Nitrates ratio, (9) Germination index (GI, %) and (10) Oxygen Uptake Rate (OUR, mg/g/day). Results showed strong correlations for almost all measured compost variables with several CIELAB color variables. Particularly, CIELAB variables a*, b*, C*, ΔE* show the strongest relationship, of all compost variables, with GI (R2 > 0.97) followed by N-NH4+/ N-NO3− (R2 > 0.93). OUR also shows strong relationships (R2 > 0.92) with CIELAB variables a*, b*, C* along with the strong relationships between color variables a*, ΔE* with FA (R2 > 0.91), pH (R2 > 0.91), TKN (R2 > 0.94) and color variable a* with C/N (R2 = 0.91). As a conclusion, CIELAB color methodology offers an easy, quick and low-cost method for monitoring and evaluating a composting process that utilizes OMW as substrate.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the composting industry Organohumiki Thrakis IKE.

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  1. School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9, Heroon Polytechniou Str., Zografou campus, 15780, Athens, Greece

    Dimosthenis Tsivas, Apostolos Vlyssides & Anestis Vlysidis

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  1. Dimosthenis Tsivas
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  2. Apostolos Vlyssides
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Correspondence to Anestis Vlysidis.

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Tsivas, D., Vlyssides, A. & Vlysidis, A. Monitoring of a III-Phase Olive Pomace Composting Process Using the CIELAB Colorimetric Method. Waste Biomass Valor 12, 5029–5039 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-021-01363-8

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