Study of a Short-Term Biological Pretreatment of MSW with Low Aeration

Mechanical-biological pretreatment of municipal solid wastes (MSW) has been hampered by high cost and long process duration in China. In this study a short-term biological pretreatment for the processing of mixed MSW has been investigated in MSW treatment plant of Yichang, China by using static pile composting with low aeration. The performance of a large-scale biological treatment process has been studied on 150 Mg of raw municipal solid waste for 20 days. After biological pretreatment, the organic matters were reduced from 45.6% to 38.2%, and the moisture content reduction was observed from 42.4% to 35.2%. Weight reduction was 15%, while volume reduction was reached 20% of the initial volume. The pretreated waste sorted by 30mm screen, and different fractions may be composting, recycled, landfilled or incineration.