The Impact of Composting on Air Quality in the Jordanian Badia

The Jordanian Badia, which makes up almost 80% of the Jordanian territories, is becoming an important source for food production due to the rapid population growth and the large demand for food. Low precipitation slows down the production and decomposition of organic material, which leads to poor soils which lack basic elements that are necessary to maintain a lavish agriculture in the Badia. The composting of organic material is believed to be a good option to improve soil conditions in the Badia and to reduce the burdens on domestic landfills. However, composting may induce odors and air contaminants including NH3, CH4 and N2O in the vicinity of composting premises. This paper is carried out in order to assess air quality under the impact of composing in the Jordanian Badia by applying the well-known AERMOD Model. It studies the dispersion of odors and other pollutants from a proposed composting facility to be located at the campus of The Hashemite University in Jordan. The selected location is a good representation of the Jordanian Badia due to similarities in the climate, soil type, and fragile ecosystems. The study reveals that the predicted concentrations of the contaminating gasses vary between 5.0-8.0 ppb, 1870-2110 ppb, and 110-170 ppb for H2S, CH4, and NH=, respectively. The calculated odor concentrations were found to be in the range of 110-250 OuE/m^3. The findings of this paper emphasize the importance of composting as a good practice to manage agricultural and domestic solid waste, and to produce valuable composts which are highly needed to improve the soil conditions in the Badia with minimal consequences on air quality. The vast area of the Badia offers a myriad of places far from sensitive receptors to establish compost facilities without causing any nuisance to the (Bedouins) nomads, the main inhabitants of the Badia.