Air filled porosity measurements by air pycnometry in the composting process

Air filled porosity (AFP) appears as the best measure to determine the available porosity in a composting material or, in general, in an organic matrix. Several methodologies, including theoretical and empirical approaches have been developed to estimate AFP. Among them, air pycnometry has been cons...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ruggieri, Luz, Gea Leiva, Teresa|||0000-0003-2523-4797, Artola, Adriana|||0000-0002-0524-2119, Sánchez, Antoni|||0000-0003-4254-8528
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2009
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:196158
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/196158
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2008.12.049
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Air filled porosity
Composting
Free air space
Organic solid wastes
Pycnometry
Descripción
Sumario:Air filled porosity (AFP) appears as the best measure to determine the available porosity in a composting material or, in general, in an organic matrix. Several methodologies, including theoretical and empirical approaches have been developed to estimate AFP. Among them, air pycnometry has been considered the most suitable and accurate technique to obtain reliable measures of AFP. In this review, the published methodologies to determine AFP by air pycnometry are explained in detail, and the main advantages and disadvantages of such methodologies are discussed. Also, a massive sampling of several organic wastes and mixtures intended for composting has been characterized by air pycnometry, and the theoretical and empirical correlations proposed in literature are compared in terms of accuracy in AFP measurement. Results obtained show that some theoretical correlations are suitable for estimating AFP in the majority of organic wastes studied. However, some waste samples need an experimental determination to obtain a realistic value of AFP.