Estimating fugitive bioaerosol releases from static compost windrows: feasibility of a portable wind tunnel approach

An assessment of the fugitive release of bioaerosols from static compost piles was conducted at a green waste composting facility in South East England; this representing the initial stage of a programme of research into the influence of process parameters on bioaerosol emission flux. Wind tunnel experiments conducted on the surface of static windrows generated specific bioaerosol emission rates (SBER2s) at ground level of between 13 and 22 x 10(3) cfu/m2/s for mesophilic actinomycetes and between 8 and 11 x 10(3)cfu/m2/s for Aspergillus fumigatus. Air dispersion modelling of these emissions using the SCREEN3 air dispersion model in area source term mode was used to generate source depletion curves downwind of the facility for comparative purposes.