Stoichiometry of the aerobic biodegradation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW)

An elemental analysis was applied to describe the composition of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW). The initial elemental composition was constant at C5H8.5O4N0.2. The changes of the composition during the biodegradation process and the final waste composition were strictly dependent on the process conditions. The decrease in carbon content due to biodegradation increased with temperature at which the experiments were conducted, from 20percent at 20 °C to about 40percent at 37-42 °C after 96 hours. It was correlated with the amount of oxygen that was utilised in the investigated processes of aerobic biodegradation of the waste suspension. The amount of oxygen required for biodegradation of organic fraction of MSW was estimated on the basis of stoichiometric equations and increased from 0.92 moles per 1 mole of waste at 20 °C to 1.6 moles at 42 °C within 96 hours of the experiments.