Sanitation Assurance at Full-Scale Composting Facilities

该项目的目的是改进堆肥质量保证计划。在加拿大，大型集中式堆肥设施产生的堆肥量在过去十年中几乎翻了一番，现在每年超过200万吨。堆肥被认为是一种可持续的技术，用于回收市政、农业和工业运营中的有机残渣；然而，一些堆肥原料含有人类病原体。堆肥环境中产生的高温可以灭活人类的病原体，但要利用这一点，必须确保所有堆肥颗粒达到规定的高温。很难跟踪堆肥颗粒的温度暴露情况。为进行这项研究，研制了一种新型的温度探头，它的行为类似于堆肥颗粒。由于许多堆肥方法在加拿大被使用，这项研究将开发各种堆肥方法的病原体灭活验证协议。这将是世界上第一次进行此类研究。这项研究的结果应该会改善加拿大生产的堆肥的卫生质量，从而减少对公众的健康风险。

The purpose of this project is to improve compost quality assurance programs. In Canada, the amount of compost produced at large-scale centralized composting facilities has nearly doubled over the past decade and now exceeds 2 million tonnes per year. Composting is recognized as a sustainable technology and is used to recycle organic residuals from municipal, agricultural, and industrial operations; however, some compost feedstocks contain human pathogens. Elevated temperatures generated in compost environments inactivate human pathogens, but to take advantage of this, one must be sure all particles of compost reach a prescribed elevated temperature. It is difficult to track the temperature exposure of a particle of compost. A novel temperature probe, which behaves like a particle of compost, has been developed for this research. As numerous composting methods are used in Canada, this study will develop pathogen inactivation validation protocols for a variety of composting methods. This will be the first study of this kind undertaken anywhere in the world. The findings of this research should lead to improved hygienic quality of composts produced in Canada, thus decreasing health risks to the public.