The use of MSW-based compost for use in agriculture soil as

fertilizer or conditioner is a sustainable recycling practice owing t

o its
Municipal solid waste (MSW) collected by municipal aut nutrient content and its positive effects on soil physicohorichemical
ties mainly originate from households, commerce, public in properties (Iglesias-Jimenez and Alvarez, 1993; Crecchio
stituet al.,
tions and other activities served by the municipality, exc 2001; Soumare et al., 2003; Termorshuizen et al.,
luding
2004;
waste from municipal sewage networks and constructio Hargreaves et al., 2008; Mylavarapu and Zinati, 2009). Ho
n and
wever,
demolition waste. With the ever increasing World population many studies have been shown that soil application of con
the
tamiMSW generation rate will likely double in the next twenty nated organic residues can lead to adverse effects on soil qu
years,
ality,
particularly in low income countries, reaching 2.2 billion ton plant growth and crop yields, and also on groundwater q
s per
uality
year in 2025 (Hoornweg and Bhada-Tata, 2012). This will and nally human, animal and soil organisms health (Chaney
likely
and
increase the management costs but also needs the empower Ryan, 1994; Cala et al., 2005; Renella et al., 2007; Madrid
ment
et al.,
of the MSW recycle chain to reduce the amount of wastes t 2007; Hargreaves et al., 2008; Gomes et al., 2010). Howev
hat is
er, the
landlled. In Iran, a recent survey from (Mahdavimagnitude of these negative effects in composted MSW amen
Damghani
ded
et al., 2008) showed that the MSW generation rate is in the soils also depend on their salinity and the presence of other i
order
mpuof 0.88 kg per capita per day, and according to the Sanandaj rities that are not modied during the composting progress.
Waste
Land application of organic residues is generally regulate
Management Organization (Sanandaj city, Kurdistan Province d at
) the
national level, and use restrictions take into account both the
MSW generation rate is 0.95 kg per capita per day.
pollutant loads (e.g. heavy metals, organic pollutants) and fer
tilizer
legislation (e.g. EU Nitrates Directive) to prevent excessive
nutrients inputs and consequent groundwater eutrophication
and
greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the achievement of a ma
rket-

able level for MSW compost needs balancing of nutrient co

ntent
and reduced loads of pollutants and other impurities such as
glass,
metals, plastics, are generally declared in the product
label.
Recently Iranian farmers have been started use the MSW co
mpost
on agricultural land, but to date in Iran the compost from MS
W is
not regulated neither by the waste nor by product legislation,
and
national standards for compost quality in a comprehensive
legal
framework in the area of compost production are still missin
g.
In Iran, the presence of the heavy metals, salinity and impu
rities
particularly glass in the composted MSW, caused by improper
disposal and not separated waste collection, pose problems in pro
duc-

ing high quality compost for agricultural use (Hossainzadeh, 20

04;
Mahdavi-Damghani et al., 2008; Keramati et al., 2010; Fekri
and
Kaveh, 2013; Fathi et al., 2014), and generally the compost qua
lity
is dened using limits from other environmental legislations (e
.g.
European and Canadian).
Composted MSW are heterogeneous organo-mineral matric
es
with particle size distribution that depend on the quality of the o
riginal materials and the composting modes (e.g. mixing) and it
has
been reported that the different particle size fractions of c
omposted materials have different physico-chemical properties
and
different heavy metal concentrations and availability (Para
delo

et al., 2011; Saha et al., 2013), and in particular, that the

smaller
is the particle size the higher is the pollutant concent
rations
(Petruzzelli et al., 1989; Matus et al., 1997; Vee
ken and
Hamelers, 2002, 2003; Lopez et al., 2002; Smith, 2009; P
aradelo
et al., 2011; Zhao et al., 2012; Saha et al., 2013; Para
delo and
Barral, 2014). Therefore, size fractionation can improve the q
uality
of the composted MSW and allow its safe use in agricultu
re, by
eliminating the size fractions carrying the highest concentr
ations
of pollutants. The current technologies for the removal of
heavy
metals from composted MSW are based on chemical extra
ctions
with including inorganic (e.g. HNO3 , HC1, H 2 SO4 ) or organic
acids
(e.g. citric, oxalic acid) or alkali, leaching with strong comp
lexing
agents (NTA, EDTA) or bio-leaching promoted by inoculated
microorganisms (Wong and Henry, 1988; Veeken and Hamelers, 2
003).
Chemical extractions require expensive chemicals, spec
ialized
plants and operators, and can reduce the fertilizing capa
city of
composted MSW due to the loss of nutrients (e.g. Fe and Ca
) and
also produce liquid wastes. A feasible alternative to ch
emical
extractions is physical fractionation of composted MSW,
which
can be applied downstream of the solid waste pro
cessing
(Veeken, 1998). Zhao et al. (2012) reported that
particles
<0.8 mm have lower nutrients content and higher heavy
metal
concentrations. Production of high quality compost from
MSW
requires an integrated approach to the whole MSW, with efc
ient
separation since the collection step. However, while waste se
paration and sorting technologies become increasingly available,
poor
waste separation which still affect large Worlds areas and re
sults
in the production of low grade compost, unusable in agricu
lture.
We hypothesized that physical fractionation could signic
antly
improve the quality of a low grade compost, and parti
cularly
reduce the risks of heavy metal accumulation in the foodchain.
We studied distribution of heavy metals and other impur
ities,
nutrients and the salinity values of different particle size frac
tions
of MSW compost produced in Sanandaj (Kurdistan, Iran) us
ing a

physical fractionation scheme. The objective of our study wa

s to
test a physical fractionation technique as a feasible treatment
for
improving the quality of low grade compost obtained from muni
cipal solid waste, by removing contaminants and various imp
urities for optimal MSW compost recycle. This study is import
ant
because qualitative and quantitative information on the improv
ement of compost quality may allow its utilization by the local po
pulation with benecial feedback on the local MSW cycle
and
environment.

2. Material and methods

2009. Form the whole compost mass, 3 independent samples

of
2.1. Site description and sampling method
12 kg, prepared by six subsamples of 2 kg each were collecte
d in
The studied compost was produced by mixed MSW consistMarch 2013 and rapidly transferred to the analytical laboratorie
ing
s.
of recoverable and non-recoverable wastes, including organic
fraction (71%), plastics (8%), paper/pardboard (6%), textiles (3%), 2.2. Sample analysis
glass
(2%), metallic residues (1%), wood residues (1%) and other
For the particle size distribution study, 100 g of ovenminor
dried
substances (8%) (Rezaee et al., 2014) collected in the city of compost (72 h at 70 C, forced aeration) were fractionated i
Sanan a
ndaj. The city is located in south of Kurdistan province (W >2, 1.2, 0.8, 0.4, 0.2 and 0.1 mm dry-sieves tower. These pa
Iran).
rticle
According to the Koppen (1931) climatological system, the cli sizes were selected on the basis of their reactivity towards hea
mate
vy
of the area is semi-arid with the following climatic data: metals, salinity and nutrient contents, and on the availability
mean
of
annual temperature 14.5 C and mean air humidity val commercially available certied mesh. The seven size fracti
ons
ues of
48.5% (Rezaee et al., 2014), mean annual precipitation 31 were weighed and their percentages are reported in Table 1. T
2 mm,
he
precipitation distribution is irregular with peak rain months be whole, unsieved, compost was also analyzed and considered
ing
as
January, February, March, April, November, and December. the control.
The
Undesired impurities such as glass, stones and plastic fragmen
current solid waste generation from the city is about 320 t da ts
1
y ,
were separated hand, then fractionated by mechanical sie
which is not separated at source. About 200 t of the total prod ving
uced
using 4.8, 2 and 1.2 mm dry-sieves mesh; such impurities
wastes in Sanandaj are composted at the Sanandaj MSW Comp were
ostalso weighed and expressed as percentage of the total mass.
ing Plant (Fig. 1) using aerobic windrows system, with an ave
The pH and electrical conductivity (EC) values for the wh
rage
ole
of ve times turning of composting materials per month, and compost and compost particle size fractions were measured
the
by
rest is landlled.
water extractions using a 1:5 compost:water (w/v) ratio, by
Currently, the compost manufactured by the composting pl the
ant
of Sanandaj is not used by local farmers and growers beca
use it
is of low grade, due to excessive salinity, coarse impuritie
s and
excessive concentrations of some heavy metals. Thus, the co
mpost
manufactured by the composting plant has been collected aro
und
it after it has been stored for several years. The compost studi
ed in
this work was produced from wastes collected in the period 20
06

mean of a pH meter (Metrohm Pty Ltd., Herisau, Switzerland)

and
an electrical conductivity meter (Metrohm Pty Ltd., Herisau,
Switzerland), respectively. The total organic (TOM) content
of the
whole compost and fractions is determined by dry comb
ustion
and total organic carbon (TOC) content is calculated usi
ng the
value of TOM content. Three g of whole compost and fractions,
pre-

viously dried at 105 C for 4 h, were placed in preweighed silica

capsules and heated in a mufe furnace at 550600
C for 7 h.
The obtained ashes were cooled in a desiccator and weigh
ed. The
total organic C (TOC) was as: TOC% = TOM% 0.58, wh
ere TOM
was the total organic matter (i.e. the mass loss on
ignition)
(Nelson and Sommers, 1996) and 0.58 the van Bemmele
n factor.

Data were analyzed for standard errors of calculated means,

Total N was determined by the Kjeldahl procedure accordi
folng to
lowed by Duncans multiple range test to determine signicant
Bremener and Mulvaney (1982). Calcium and Mg were deter
difmined
ferences using SAS (9.1).
by the complexometric method (Botha and Webb, 1952), and
the K
content by ame emission photometric method, using a ame 3. Results and discussion
photometer (Model BWB-1, Technology, UK Ltd.). Total P content 3.1. Particle size distribution and impurities content
was
The particle size fractionation showed that particles of >2
measured by the colorymetric method of Murphy and Riley (1
mm
962),
using a spectrophotometer (Cary 50, Varian Australia Pty Ltd. represented the largest fraction (47.3%), followed by particl
es in
Mulgrave, Victoria). All compost fractions were analyzed for the the 0.40.8 mm (12.0%), 1.22 mm (11.7%), <0.1 mm (8.5
%), 0.2
ir Ca,
Mg, K, P, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Mn, Fe, Ni and Cr total concentrations 0.4 mm (8.2%), 0.81.2 mm (6.8%) and 0.10.2 mm (5.5%)
size class
using
the dry ashing method (Jones, 2001). Elemental concentr (Table 1). This fractionation is comparable to the results of
Saha
ations
were determined by using atomic absorption spectrophoto et al. (2013).
The impurities make up (29.6%) of the compost mass
metry
(Varian SpectrAA 220, Varian Australia Pty Ltd. Mulgrave, Vict , and
among them we identied stones (18.2%), glass (11.1%) and p
oria).
All element concentrations are expressed on a dry weight lastic
(0.3%) (Table 2). The glass and stone impurities in the co
(dw)
mpost
basis of samples.
For quantifying the potential environmental risks associate were 22.2 and 1.4 times over the current limits (glass < 0.
5% dw
d to
the use of the studied compost, a hazard quotient (HQ) was c and stone < 5% dw) for composts (Table 2), and could not
allow
alculated for each of the size fractions by dividing the fraction conits use for agricultural purpose. This problem has been solv
ed by
cen1
tration (mg kg ) of each metal by the corresponding ref different remediation approaches such as ne milling (
Brunt
erence
concentration (RfC), according to the heavy metal concentr et al., 1985) and pelleting (Wheeler, 1993), aiming at rend
er the
ations
and other chemical parameters set by the Canadian Council of residual glass less harmful for the personnel in charge for
waste
Ministers of the Environment (CCME, 2005) for compost category treatment.
A (for
agricultural proposes) as:

Fraction concentration

3.2. Electrical conductivity and pH

The pH value of the compost was near neutral for all fracti
ons,
RfC
whereas the EC values depended on the compost particle size,
For HQ > 1.0 adverse environmental effects are expec with
1
higher values (10.1 dS m ) associated to the smallest particl
ted to
e size
occur for each selected parameter.
1
class (<0.1 mm), and the lowest values (3.3 dS m ) ass
ociated
with the coarsest particle size fractions (>2 mm) (Fig. 2). This r
esult
was likely due to the fact that higher specic surface area
of the
smallest fractions increase the ion exchangeable capacity (
Hinds
and Lowel, 1980, 1989; Eary et al., 1990). The compost E
C value
is an important parameter to determine the compost quali
ty as
high salt concentration in soil can reduce or even prohibit
crop
production and will result in land degradation and groundw
ater
pollution (Shari and Safari Sinegani, 2012). Our results ind
icate

HQ

that the compost EC values can be improved by physical frac 3.3. Assessment of elements distribution behavior among the fracti
tionons
ation as the smaller particles that contain and release more s
oluble
Mean values of total heavy metals and nutrient concentration
ions and organic acids can be removed to mitigate excessive s
in the whole compost and particle size fractions are reported
salinin
ity and/or low pH values.
Z. Shari, G. Renella / Waste Management 38 (2015) 95101

99

Fig. 2 and Table 1, respectively. Our results show that the ele in size fractions in the range 0.10.2 mm (Table 1, Fig. 2). The
ment
eledistribution among the compost size fractions was not ho ments enrichment of the nest physical fractions is likely d
mogeue to
neous. In general, a trend of increase of elemental concentra solubilization of metals in waste by organic acid produced dur
tions
ing
with decrease of particle size was observed (Table 1, Fig. the microbial decomposition of organic matter and their su
2). The
bsehighest concentration of Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, Mn, Mg and K quent adsorption on ner particles due to higher surface
was
area
found in the nest fraction (i.e. <0.1 mm) with average va and higher ion exchangeable capacity (Hinds and Lowel,
lues of
1980,
1
1020.1, 952.5, 3.5, 328.5, 74.9, 58.8, 554.3 mg kg , 3.4 1989; Eary et al., 1990; Zhao et al., 2012; Saha et al., 2013)
and 1.2%
.
respectively, whereas the lowest concentration were found i
The ratio between the concentrations of heavy metals in the
n the
ncoarsest fraction (>2 mm). These results are in agreement wit est fraction (<0.1 mm) and those in the largest fraction (>2
h premm),
vious work (Petruzzelli et al., 1989; Matus et al., 1997; Veeke were: Cu (12.1) > Zn (4.3) > Cd (3.6) > Cr (2.7) % Pb (
n and
2.6) > Ni
Hamelers, 2002, 2003; Lopez et al., 2002; Zhang et al., 2008; (2.2) % Mn (2.1). The results of the enrichment in the ner fra
Smith,
ctions
2009; Paradelo et al., 2011; Zhao et al., 2012; Saha et al was in agreement with previous results by Saha et al. (2013),
par., 2013;
Paradelo and Barral, 2014). Some exceptions were Mn a ticularly for the high enrichment values in the ner fractio
ns for
nd Mg
which showed the lowest concentration in size fractions i Cu. The Cu retention in the compost ner fractions is likely ca
used
n the
be both the higher ion exchange capacity of this fraction but
range 1.22 mm, and Ca which showed the highest
also
concentration

due to high afnity of Cu for organic ligands compared to

other
heavy metals (Stumm and Morgan, 1996). However, n
o clear
trends of TOC, N, P and Fe contents was observed in funct
ion of
the different size fractions (Table 1). In general, the size fra
ctions
<0.8 mm presented higher TOC, N, P, Ca, Mg and Fe value
s than
the coarser fractions, but in most cases the differences we
re not
signicant (Table 1 and Fig. 3), in agreement previous
ndings

(Matus et al., 1997; Lopez et al., 2002; Paradelo et al., 2011;

Zhao
et al., 2012). The TOC and N contents of the various size fracti
ons
were correlated (Table 1), thus conrming the previous re
sults
by Zhao et al. (2012). Differences in P contents of different fracti
ons
were also signicant (Table 1), whereas no signicant differen
ces
were found for Fe (Table 1).
3.4. Assessment of fertilizing potential of different particle size
fractions

The results of potential environmental risk analysis by haz

ard
Municipal solid waste compost is increasingly used in agr
quotient (HQ) showed that HQ values increased with decreasi
iculture as a soil conditioner but also as a fertilizer (Har ng
size fractions, more frequently for size fractions <0.8 mm (Fig.
greaves
2).
et al., 2008).
The physical fractions coupled with the elemental an Exceptions were found for Cr (HQ < 1 in all the fractions),
Cu
alysis
allowed us to assess the distribution of nutrients and co (HQ < 1 in 0.40.8 mm fractions) and Cd (HQ < 1 in 0.20.8
mm
ntaminants, as well as pH and EC values of the different compost ph fractions). The pH compost values had HQ < 1 for the whole co
mysical
fractions, and the overall the potential usability of such compo post and all size fractions, whereas the EC values had HQ > 1
for
st as
fertilizers or soil amendments. Our results show that by rem the whole compost and size fractions, except the fraction lar
ger
oving
selected size fractions it is possible to reduce the EC val than 2 mm (Fig. 2). Overall, these results suggest that the size fr
acues or
excessive heavy metal concentrations, and owing to a more h tions smaller than 0.8 mm were responsible for lowering the gra
de
omogeneous distribution of C, N and P, this would not signi of the produced compost, and could be one for the reasons for hin
cantly
drance in its use in agriculture.
reduce the fertilizing capacity of the produced compost.
3.5. Assessment of heavy metals, salinity and impurity removal
technologies
To understand the effects of different compost fractions on soi
l
quality and health would contribute to elucidate how they regulat
e
the compost performance in soil. Depending on end-use
and
national regulations, composts are screened by different
size
meshes, usually lager than 0.5 mm for composts obtained by bio
solids (Mazzarino et al., 2004). To follow the performance range,
we
classied the surveyed fractions into 3 main operational parti
cle
size fractions: >2, 0.82 and <0.8 mm. The chemical
properties of
these three classes are shown in Fig. 3.
The <0.8 mm size fraction showed the highest heavy metal co
n1
1
centrations (Zn 885.2 mg kg , Cu 609.4 mg kg , Cd 2.7 mg k
1
g ,
1
1
1
Pb 308.6 mg kg , Ni 69.3 mg kg , Cr 55.1 mg kg
and
Mn
1
488.4 mg kg ), which were signicantly higher (P < 0.05) than
in
other size fractions, except for Cd. Moreover, this size fraction
also
1
showed the highest salinity content (8.5 dS m ) as compa
red to
1
other size classes i.e. >2 mm (3.3 dS m ), 0.82 (5.3 dS
1
m ) and
1
whole compost (5.7 dS m ) and the difference was sign
icant
(P < 0.05) (Fig. 3). These results indicated that a signicant p
ortion
of the heavy metals and salinity might be removed by this co
mpost
by separating the <0.8 mm fraction size from the compost, wi
thout
signicant reduction of the fertilization potential. One of the p
rob-

lems to solve is the presence of impurities such as glass p

articles.
4. Conclusion
Modern society need to maximize the recycling of MS
W, and
compost production for improve soil fertility is a sustainable
option
for the waste recycling market. However, production of hig
h grade
compost requires efcient waste collection and initial sep
aration.

When this is difcult to achieve, our work demonstrated tha

t the
physical fractionation can be a feasible approach to improv
e the
quality by removing the particles smaller than <0.8 mm, w
ithout
signicant reduction of the fertilizing value of the remaining
fraction. With such a procedure it was possible to meet the most s
tringent parameters for the use of this compost in agriculture sta
rting

from a low grade compost although it should be tested on l

argest
compost samples. The physical fractionation approach pr
oved to
be efcient for the compost produced by MSW of Sanandaj (
Kurdistan province, Iran) and holds the potential for a wider appl
ication
but National standard values for dening MSW compost
quality
for agricultural use should be determined in Iran.