Stabilisation of municipal solid waste after autoclaving in a passively aerated bioreactor

Autoclaving of unsorted municipal solid waste is one of the solutions in waste management that maximises the amount of waste for recycling. After autoclaving, however, a large part of the waste is composed of unstabilised biodegradable fractions (organic remaining fraction, ORF), which may comprise up to 30% of autoclaved waste and cannot be landfilled without further stabilisation. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of aerobic stabilisation in a passively aerated reactor of organic remaining fraction after full-scale autoclaving of unsorted municipal solid waste. The organic remaining fraction had a volatile solids content of ca. 70%, a 4-day respiration activity test (AT4) of ca. 26 g O₂ kg^-1 total solids and a 21-day gas formation test (GP21) of ca. 235 dm³ kg^-1 total solids. Stabilisation was conducted in a 550 L reactor with passive aeration (Stage I) and a periodically turned windrow (Stage II). The feedstocks consisted entirely of organic remaining fraction, or of organic remaining fraction with 10% inoculum (ORF + I). Inoculum constituted product of stabilisation of organic remaining fraction. During stabilisation of organic remaining fraction and ORF + I, thermophilic conditions were achieved, and the decreases of volatile solids, AT4 and GP21 could be described by 1 order kinetic models. The rate constants of volatile solids removal (k_VS) were 0.033 and 0.068 d^-1 for organic remaining fraction and ORF + I, respectively, and the thermophilic phase was shorter with ORF + I (25 days vs. 45 days). The decrease in GP21 corresponded to volatile solids decrease, but AT4 decreased sharply during the first 10 days of waste stabilisation in the reactor, indicating that the content of highly biodegradable organic matter decreased during this time.