Co-composting of various organic substrates from municipal solid waste using an on-site prototype vermicomposting reactor

• The novel vermicompost was prepared from co-composting of various types of organic substrates.
• Development of the novel prototype vermicomposting reactor for better co-composting of organic wastes was proposed.
• Analysis of vermicompost product quality was done to compare with the compost standard.
• The earthworm growth could be enhanced with the developed reactor in terms of total weight and total number of earthworms.

Vermicomposting is a biotechnological process that converts organic materials into compost through the combined activities of red worms and microorganisms. This research investigation involved two stages of experiments. The initial stage was the experiment of co-composting using vermicomposting pile and the second stage was to develop the novel prototype vermicomposting reactor to enhance the biodegradation activity of the co-composting. The utilization of the municipal solid waste through conversion via vermicomposting practice was performed with the on-site system operation, using the earthworm Eudrilus eginiae. Here, various co-substrates were investigated for the vermicomposting practice. They were dry cow dung (CD), kitchen waste(KW), sewage sludge(SS) and vegetable-market waste(VW), respectively. The seven different mixture ratios of MSW were investigated in this study; CD as single control (Tr1), CD:KW in 20:80 (Tr2), CD:SS in 20:80 (Tr3), CD:VW in 20:80 (Tr4), CD:KW:SS:VW in 25:25:25:25 (Tr5), CD:KW:VW in 20:40:40 (Tr6), and CD:KW:SS in 20:40:40 (Tr7). Chemical changes of these MSW at different mixture ratios during vermicomposting were analyzed. Compost derived from this process contained higher nutrients than general compost. The developed prototype vermicomposting reactor could produce the compost as required by the compost standard. This reactor can be applied to the co-composting process and practically generate value-added benefits to residential areas due to its high efficiency of vermiprocess.