Biodrying of municipal solid waste-correlations between moisture content, organic content, and end of the biodrying...

Biodrying refers to the decomposition of organic municipal solid waste (MSW) under aerobic conditions. This process usually lasts 14 days and requires large amounts of air to be injected into the waste matrix. The efficiency of the biodrying process depends on several geotechnical parameters, including initial moisture content, initial organic content, bulk density, dry density, solid particle density, and porosity. To examine the potential influence of these parameters on the biodrying process, we analyzed 13 biodried MSW samples. The results revealed a strong positive linear relationship between the initial moisture content and the mass loss percentage. In the first three days of the biodrying process, the waste mass rapidly decreased; afterwards, the daily mass loss occurred at a less rapid, more constant rate. The established average mass removal ratio between the volatile solids and water was 1:6.38 with a standard deviation of 1.06. Dry and solid particle densities were preserved in all 13 experiments; thus, the corresponding void ratio remained unchanged. This finding suggests that the settlement and degradation of MSW that occur during the biodrying process did not significantly influence the airflow rate.