agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, windrow composting is the production of

compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...

by piling

organic matter Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have c ...

biodegradable waste Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane or simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion ...

, such as animal manure and crop residues, in long rows (''

windrow A windrow is a row of cut (mown) hay or small grain crop. It is allowed to dry before being baled, combined, or rolled. For hay, the windrow is often formed by a hay rake, which rakes hay that has been cut by a mowing machine or by scythe into a ...

s''). This method is suited to producing large volumes of compost. These rows are generally turned to improve porosity and oxygen content, mix in or remove moisture, and redistribute cooler and hotter portions of the pile. Windrow composting is a commonly used farm scale

composting Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...

method. Composting process control parameters include the initial ratios of

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

rich materials, the amount of bulking agent added to assure air porosity, the pile size, moisture content, and turning frequency. The temperature of the windrows must be measured and logged constantly to determine the optimum time to turn them for quicker compost production.

Compost windrow turners

Compost windrow turners were developed to produce

on a large scale by Fletcher Sims Jr. of Canyon, Texas. They are traditionally a large machine that straddles a windrow of 4 feet (1.25 meters) or more high, by as much as 12 feet (3.5 meters) across. Although smaller machines exist for small windrows, most operations use large machines for volume production. Turners drive through the windrow at a slow rate of forward movement. They have a steel drum with paddles that are rapidly turning. As the turner moves through the windrow, fresh air (

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

) is injected into the compost by the drum/paddle assembly, and waste gases produced by bacterial

decomposition Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is e ...

are vented. The oxygen feeds the aerobic bacteria and thus speeds the composting process. ;Utilization To properly use a compost windrow turner, it is ideal to compost on a hard surfaced pad. Heavy-duty compost windrow turners allow the user to obtain optimum results with the aerobic hot composting process. By using

four wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

or tracks the windrow turner is capable of turning compost in windrows located in remote locations. With a self-trailering option this allows the compost windrow turner to convert itself into a trailer to be pulled by a semi-truck

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

. These two options combined allow the compost windrow turner to be easily hauled anywhere and to work compost windrows in muddy and wet locations.

Specific applications

Molasses-based distilleries all over the world generate large amount of effluent termed as spent wash or

vinasse Vinasse is a By-product, byproduct of the sucrose, sugar or ethanol industry. Sugarcane or sugar beet is processed to produce crystalline sugar, pulp and molasses. The latter are further processed by Ethanol fermentation, fermentation to ethanol, as ...

. For each liter of alcohol produced, around 8 liters of effluent is generated. This effluent has

chemical oxygen demand In environmental chemistry, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) is an indicative measure of the amount of oxygen that can be consumed by reactions in a measured solution. It is commonly expressed in mass of oxygen consumed over volume of solution whic ...

(COD) of 1,50,000 PPM and

biochemical oxygen demand Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) needed (i.e. demanded) by aerobic biological organisms to break down organic material present in a given water sample at a certain temperature over a specific time period. T ...

(BOD) of 60,000 PPM and even more. This effluent needs to be treated and the only effective method for conclusive disposal is by composting. Sugar factories generate pressmud / cachaza during the process and the same has about 30% fibers as carbon and has large amounts of water. This pressmud is dumped on prepared land in the form of 100 meters long windrows of 3 meters x 1.5 meters and spent wash is sprayed on the windrow while the windrow is being turned. These machines help consume spent wash of about 2.5 times of the volume of the pressmud, which means that 100 meters of windrow accommodates about 166 MT of pressmud and uses about 415 m³ of spent wash in 50 days. Microbial Culture (organic solution) TRIO COM-CULT is used about 1 kg per MT of pressmud for fast de-composing of the spent wash. Hundreds of thousands of square meters of spent wash is being composted all over the world in countries like India, Colombia, Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa etc. The compost yard has to be prepared in such a way that the land is impervious and does not allow the liquid effluent to pass down into the earth. The compost thus generated is of excellent quality and is rich in nutrients.

References

External links

Windrow DynamicsWindrow Composting - Grass Straw
(retrieved March 17, 2009)
Organic Composting
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windrow Composting Composting Sustainable agriculture Biodegradable waste management Environmental engineering Industrial composting

Compost windrow turners

Specific applications

See also

References

External links