Turnover and Loss of Nitrogen Compounds during Composting of Food Waste

The static aerobic process was used to investigate the turnover and loss of nitrogen compounds by a food waste composting experiment. Total nitrogen and organic nitrogen content presented fall, NH4+-N concentration ascend and NO3--N concentration changed very little during composting. After composting, water soluble component increased greatly, with 90% of organic nitrogen and 81% of total nitrogen in water solubility state. During composting, total nitrogen content descended by 26.3% and total nitrogen lost by 50%, which were attributed mostly through ammonia volatilization.