Vermicomposting of Food Waste by Perionyx excavatus

Environmental Research Centre, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand http://www.erc.nu.ac.th E-mail: dondejt@yahoo.com

Dr. Dondej Tungtakanpoung

Introduction
The main composition of Thai solid waste is organic waste (47%, 2004) particularly food waste The source of food waste Household Restaurant Fresh market etc

Food waste from household

From the survey in Borommatri 21 ( a local community in Phitsanulok Municipality) found that food waste (kitchen waste) consist of 3 parts, vegetables, fruits and mixed boil rice.

Problems Caused by Food Waste

Communicable Diseases Infection by Vector Mental/Physical -Odour -Visual Difficult for collection, transport and storage

Introduction
Composting is the most economical and sustainable option for organic waste management Disadvantages of composting
Long duration of process Aeration required Loss of nutrient Heterogeneous end product

Vermicomposting
Composting using worms Better end product Achieve safe pathogen level Good converting of nutrients

In Borommatri 21 (a local community in Phitsanulok Municipality)

the community tried to operate the vermicomposting by using the red worm from Wongpanit Ltd. However, only 1 household can carry out the worm farm.

A Worm farm in Borommatri 21

Carry out in the cement tube Problem
Open system Difficult to control moisture, insect Poor Drainage Unable to feed by food waste from household Too much feed

Objective
The purpose of this study was to establish a method for the development and use of Perionyx excavatus for vermicomposting in an appropriated reactor and to investigate the optimum waste/worm ratio and yield

Material and Method

Food waste

and melon peel)

Fruits (banana, papaya

Vegetables (lettuce and Cabbage) Mixed Vegetables : Fruits : Boil rice in 1 : 1.3 : 1.4 ratio by weight
particle size = 1-4 cm by Chopping

Boil

Feed

Food waste

Sawdust (bulking agent)

Feed Input

Food waste : Sawdust = 925 :75 g (2:1 dry weight)

Worm
Perionyx excavatus from a worm farm at local community of Phitsanulok Municipality (Borommatrai 21) Perionyx excavatus identified by Dr. Prasuk Kosawititkul, biology department, faculty o f science, Naresuan University

Reactor

Vermicomposting Box
Cover

perforated box


screen

Base Soil
+

water

Reactor

Front view
Screen

Base soil

Top view Bottom view

Experimental Design
50 g 100 g 150 g 200 g NO WORM
All experiment in Duplication

1 kg of food waste

: 4:1

Parameter
parameter Worm Food waste

weight weight
Color, Odour, Temperature

Every 3 day Every 3 day daily weekly weekly weekly weekly

moisture

OC, N, C/N ratio, CEC P, K, VS

pH

result
The change of amount of food waste with initial worm between 50-200 g
10 20
Food ? ? ?? ? ????? (?? ) ??????? waste (g) ? ? ?

10 00 80 0 60 0 40 0 20 0 0 0 5 1 0 1 5 ???? (? ? ??? ? ?) 2 0 2 5 3 0

wrm0 g o 20 wrm5 g o 10 wrm0 g o 10 wrm0g o 5 cotro(n wrm n l oo)

Time (day)

Result
Digestion time with varied waste/worm ratio between 5-20
4 0 D stio T e(day) ige n im 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 0 1 5 Fo dw /wrm(g ) o aste o /g 2 0 2 5

Average a worm weight during the period of vermicomposting

08 .1 06 .1 A veragew t o aw rm(g/w rm eigh f o o ) 04 .1 02 .1 00 .1 08 .0 06 .0 04 .0 02 .0 00 .0 0 5 1 0 1 5 T e(d ) im ay 2 0 2 5 3 0

w 2 g orm 00 w 1 g orm 50 w 1 g orm 00 w 5g orm 0

Effect of waste/worm ratio (between 5-20) on worm growth rate

1 0 G w ra o awrm(m da ro th te f o g/ y) 8 6 4 2 0 0 5 1 0 1 5 F o wsteWrm( / ) o d a / o gg 2 0 2 5 y=0 4 9 +2 0 .2 3 x .7 9 R =0 9 3 .8 7
2

Effect of waste/worm ratio on worm yield

Yield = the increasing weight of the worm in vermicomposting period the decreasing weight of the waste in vermicomposting period
06 .1 04 .1 (gw rm.gw ste ) o a
-1

02 .1 00 .1 08 .0 06 .0 04 .0 02 .0 00 .0 0 5 1 0 1 5 fo dw stew rm / ) o a / o (gg 2 0 2 5

yie ld

The composting and outside tempertures during the experiment period

35 34 33 32 T perature(C) em 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 0 5 10 15 20 T e(day) im 25 30

roomtem perature w 200g orm w 150g orm w 100g orm w 50g orm control

The changes in pH of the waste during the experiment

8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 w 200g orm w 150g orm w 100g orm w 50g orm control

p H

4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0 5 10 15 T e (day) im 20 25 30

The changes in c/n ratio of the waste during the experiment period
6 0 5 0

C /N

4 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 0 1 5 T e(d ) im ay 2 0 2 5 3 0

w 200g orm w 150g orm w 100g orm w 50g orm control

Nutrient in Base Soil after experiment Food waste/Wor m Base Soil (g/g) N (%) P (%) Start 0.337 0.110 5 0.572 0.237 6.7 0.489 0.223 10 0.480 0.194 20 0.444 0.183 control 0.434 0.156

K (%) 0.84 0 1.41 7 1.22 2 1.16 0 1.10 2 0.95 2

P (%)

Nutrient in Base Soil after experiment

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00 200 150 100 50 control

P
0.7 0.6 0.5 N (%)
K (%) 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0

0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 200 150 100 50 control

200

150

100

50

control

Conclusion
Perionyx excavatus was found to be an effective worm for vermicomposting of food waste. The small plastic perforated box was found to be an appropriated reactor for vermicomposting of food waste and to have the potential for distribution to thai local household. Perionyx excavatus was found to be the effective consumer for digestion of food waste. 1 kg of food waste was empty in 11 25 days with the worm between 50 200 g, respectively.

Conclusion
The worm growth rate increased with increasing of waste/worm ration. The optimum yield was found to be 0.126 g worm/ g waste at waste/worm ratio = 6.67 (1000 g waste/150 g worm) The other microorganisms such as bacteria seem to be the main decompostor in the vermicomposting as a result of increasing of temperature and decreasing of pH and C/N ratio at the first 5 day The vermicomposting of food waste was found to be the effective process for converting of nutrient from the waste.

Another experiment (vermicomposting in the drawer)

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