Research Article VERMICOMPOSTING OF FRUIT WASTE AND ...

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945

Research Article
VERMICOMPOSTING OF FRUIT WASTE AND

INDUSTRIAL SLUDGE

Dr.B.Hemalatha

Address for Correspondence

M.E, Ph.D*, Associate Prof & Head of the Department, Sree Sastha Institute of Engg &Tech, Chennai-123

ABSTRACT
The increase in population causes an increase in the quantity and type of urban and rural wastes. Such wastes are undesirable
pollutants to the environment and time could even be a health menace. As far as rural wastes are concerned, there are
enormous quantities of organic materials that are not utilized. “Vermicomposting technology” is a fast growing one with its
pollution free, cost effective and efficient nature.
An experimental study was conducted to obtain the vermicompost using partially decomposed fruit waste with paper and
tannery industry sludge’s. The earthworm species used for this process was Eudrillus eugeniae. The microorganism culture
Pleurotus was added to enhance the degradation process. Moisture content was maintained by providing proper percentage
of water. The partially decomposed organic waste and industrial sludge’s were converted into castings by earthworms. The
castings was obtained on the top surface of the bin were in the range from 20 to 30 days depending on the type of waste and
sludge used. The castings obtained were sieved, dried, tested and used as manure. Thus the vermicomposting process helps
in the disposal of organic waste and industrial waste in a safe, economic and useful manner.

1. INTRODUCTION Day to day management of municipal solid waste is a
India and many other countries are suffering from the complex and a costly task.
entire problem due to urbanization, which are a very 1.1.1FRUIT WASTE
rapid process and a world wide phenomenon. Usage of fruits produces two types of waste - a solid
Deteriorating quality of urban environment is one of waste of peel / skin, seeds, stones etc – a liquid waste
its important impacts. SOLID WASTE is its major of juice and wash waters. In some fruits the discarded
contribution the complexity in character of solid portion can be very high(e.g. mango 30-50%,banana
waste and its volume is greatly increasing due to 20%,pineapple 40-50% and orange 30-
increase of living standards and population density. 50%).Therefore, there is often a serious waste
Hence the importance of efficient “SOLID WASTE disposal problem, which can lead to problems with
MANAGEMENT” is increasingly recognized. flies and rats around the processing room, if not
Industries produce a large quantity of wastewater and correctly dealt with. If there are no plans to use the
sludge’s during their each processing stage. When waste it should be buried or fed to animals well away
this industrial waste comes into contact with the from the processing site. One of the main problems in
environment they produce serious impacts on it. It is using the fruit waste is to ensure that the waste has a
difficult to generalize the industrial wastes since its reasonable micro biological quality. Only waste
characteristics differ from industry and also from its produced during the same day should therefore be
different processing plants. used - it is not advisable to store - up wastes to use
Before final disposal one can process and treat the waste for eg at the end of a week’s production.
so as to reduce the “wasteful wasting of waste”. Some 1.1.2PAPER MILL SLUDGE
of the techniques available to achieve this objective are Biodegradation of paper waste has suggested the
volume reduction, recovery of resources, energy utilization of paper waste for composition.
recovery. That’s why the world is entering new branch Bioconversion of paper mill sludge in to compost by
of bio information technology. This study has been done using worms studied. Sludge from paper and pulp
for reducing the pollution problems due to solid waste mill is mainly cellulose fiber generated at the end of
and industrial sludge’s by converting it into compost by pulping process. They are composed essentially of
using earthworms very successfully, economically and fibrous fines and some inorganic such as kaolin clay,
usefully. calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide and other
1.1SOLID WASTE chemicals used in manufacturing process.
The solid waste is complex in character and its 1.3VERMI COMPOSTING
volume is greatly increased due to increase of living Vermi is the Latin word for worm. Vermicomposting
standards and population density. Hence the is simply composting with worms. Vermicomposting
importance of efficient solid waste management is refers to the method of converting organic waste in to
increasingly recognized. Solid waste is the term now worm castings (E. Albanell, J. Plaixats, T. Cabrero,
used internationally to describe non-liquid waste 1988) It is one of the most cost efficient and
material arising from domestic, commercial, hospital, environmentally friendly methods of waste disposal.
industrial, agricultural and mining activities. Solid In an ideal condition earthworms can consume
waste comprises countless different material dust, practically all kinds of organic matter and they can
food waste, paper, metals, plastics, glass, discarded eat their own body weight per day for example one
clothing, garden waste etc. Solid waste includes both kilogram of worms can consume one kilogram of
combustible and non-combustible waste. Disposal of residues every day. And yet their casts contain eight
solid waste should be properly managed. They cause times as many microorganisms as their feed. And the
insanitation conditions, and hazard to human being. casts don’t contain any disease pathogens-pathogenic

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945

bacteria are reliably killed in the worm’s gut. Worm Table 1: Characteristics of Waste Before
casts also rich in nutrients such as Nitrogen, Comosting
Phosphorous and Potassium (Dr.D.Augestine
selvaseelan, 2000)Vermicompost involves aerobic Table2: Initial Characteristics of industrial sludge
decomposition of organic waste by using
microorganisms. Maximizing the waste-processing 2.3EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
rate depends on maintaining high earthworm density
throughout the vermicomposting process.In particular
temperatures, moisture, waste character, earthworm
densities are the factors. The density of earthworms
in any Vermicomposting system is related to rate of
waste processing.
1.4EARTHWORMS
Aristotle, the Greek Philosopher, referred to them as
“intestines of earth” because of their habit of
ingesting and ejecting the soil. The main activity of
earthworms involves the ingestion of soil, mixing of
different soil components and production of surface
or sub surface castings. The earthworms consume the
soil organic matter and convert it into humus within a
short period of time and increase the soil fertility. (S.
Sujatha Lilly and S. Kannaiyan, 1999) In the
temperate climate, the most common
vermicomposting worms are Eisenia Foetida and
Eudrilus Eugeniae. For Indian conditions, perionyx
excavatus is being recommended.
EUDRILUS EUGENIAE is popularly known as the
African Worm or Night Crawler is a large worm that
grows extremely rapidly and is reasonably prolific.
• It is an ideal candidate for protein production.
• It is a good species for use under tropical

condition.
1.4.1ANATOMY OF WORM

Fig 1: Anatomy of Earthworm Fig 2. Worm Bin Set Up
Earthworm has a long, rounded body with a pointed A laboratory scale set up of worm bin was made up
head and flattened posterior. Rings that surround the of earthen material in the form of an open rectangular
moist, soft body allow the earthworm to twist and box with size 43cm x 29cm x 20cm. The worm bin
turn. Since it has no backbone, with no true legs. was provided with wire like holes at bottom for
Bristles (setae) on the body move back and forth drainage and on periphery for better ventilation. The
allowing the earthworm to crawl. bin was placed in a steel stand and a tray was kept at
Earthworm breathes through its skin. Food is the bottom of bin to collect the drained liquid. The
ingested through the mouth in to stomach. Later the bin was covered at top using wire mesh to prevent the
food passes through the gizzard, where ingested entry of birds, rats etc. The experimental set up was
stones grind it up. After passing through the intestine placed in a cool dark place.
for digestion, what’s left is eliminated. Earthworms 2.4EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
are hermaphrodites, which mean they have both male
and female sex organs. Baby worms are whitish to Fig 3: Reactor setup
almost transparent and are ½ to 1 inch long. Red
worms take 4 to 6 weeks to become sexually mature.
2.MATERIALS
2.1 Feed Materials
The fruit waste was collected from the Pazamuthir
nilayam located at saibaba colony. The tannery
sludge was collected from SKM Industry at Erode .
and Paper Sludge was collected from BIPCO
Industry at Mettupalayam and their characteristic was
analysed .

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945

• The basal layer of 3cm thick pebbles biomass production, which speed up the waste
followed by 3cm thick layer of coarse sand decomposition to a higher rate.

to ensure proper drainage in each bin The worms feeding activity assimilate only 5-10%

• The third layer was filled with 3 kg of for their growth and rest is excreted as vermicast.
partially decomposed waste with 1½ kg of About 30-45 days, the volume of material has
industrial sludge for a thickness of 10cm in dropped substantially and the original bedding is no
each reactor. Sludge is added to stabilize the longer recognizable. At this point, the finished
feed composition. compost and worms can be moved over to one side of
the bin and new bedding is added to the vacant side.
• Earthworms of about 75 numbers were 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
inoculated into the bin. The technical feasibility study of adopting
vermicomposting was conducted to convert Organic
• Then a layer of green leaves was placed for wastes and industrial sludges to biofertilizer. Two
a thickness of 2cm to supply the necessary reactors were loaded with appropriate proportion of
nutrients to the compost. fruit Waste and industrial sludges with the
microorganism Pleurotus and earthworms.
• Finally 2cm thick empty space was left at 3.1DETAILS OF THE PERFORMANCE STUDY
the top to collect the casting. The initial (before vermicomposting) and final (after
vermicomposting) wastes with industrial sludges
When partially decomposed organic fruit waste and were subjected to physical and chemical composition.
sludge are subjected to earthworms, bacteria readily The details of the performance studies are discussed
degrade the simple compounds; while complex under the following titles.
wastes are first broken down to simpler one by
enzymes produced by earthworms and is then
degraded by bacteria. Since the earthworms ensures
maximum energy utilization resulting in more

Table 3: Physical and Chemical characteristics of fruit waste + paper mill sludge

Table 5: Micro and Macro nutrients of vermicast

4. CONCLUSION • The result showed the increase in
On analysis of the data the following conclusions Earthworm population in the case of
were made paper mill sludge than in tannery
• The results from the casting analysis industry.
had revealed that the organic waste and
the sludge can be converted into usable • This is a eco friendly and cost effective
form with its nutrient release. Though methods.
there may not be a great increase in
nutrient, the small change in nutrient • It is an ideal method for the
value and the reduction in C/N ratio management of solid waste.
make the plant to uptake.
• The castings which is rich in • To conclude hold promise to play a
microorganism enhance the plant significant role in protecting
growth hormones environment as it uses waste as raw
material and in building up of soil
IJAET/Vol.III/ Issue II/April-June, 2012/60-63 fertility and improving soil health for
sustainable agriculture.

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945

REFERENCE

1. E. Albanell, J. Plaixats, T. Cabrero, 1988,
“Chemical Changes during vermicomposting of
sheep manure mixed with cotton industrial
waste”, Biology and fertility of soils, pp 266-269.

2. Dr.D.Augestine selvaseelan, 2000, “Earthworm
on soil fertility and productivity”, Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University and Indian Council of
Agricultural Research.

3. Professor Dr. Hab Toefil Mazur and Dr. jozef
Koc, 1980, “The fertilizing value of tannery
Sludge”- Institute of Agricultural
Chemistry,Academy of Agriculture.

4. S. Sujatha Lilly and S. Kannaiyan, 1999,
“Earthworm – A potential bioresource in
sustainable agriculture”, Bioresources Technology
for sustainable Agriculture, pg 351-365.

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