INVESTIGATION OF CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIONAL VALUES OF PULP AND PAPER MILL SLUDGE COMPOST

Abstract

Pulp and paper industry generates million tons of wastes annually and become one of the major environmental problems worldwide. In recent years, the nutritional values of pulp and paper mill sludge compost attract researchers’ attentions. Present study was conducted on paper mill based on used paper. In the present study, distribution trend of the chemical composition and nutritional values of sludge generated from the pulp and paper industry was assessed during composting under different environmental conditions. Aim of the study was to utilize paper mill sludge in environment friendly manner. Standard extraction and analytical methods were employed to test the samples for different parameters including total nitrogen, organic carbon, Electrical Conductivity (EC), pH, phosphate, sulfate, sodium, potassium and four micro-nutrients (Zinc, Copper, Nickel and Chromium). Results demonstrated that many parameters significantly varied during composting and efficiently enhanced the nutritional contents of the compost. The concentration of organic carbon before composting was 8.25 % as compared to the composted sample (> 26 %). An increasing trend of total nitrogen content in the compost was also observed, which revealed the outcome of the ammonification process during composting. In addition, micro-nutrients levels were found in increasing pattern to further improve the nutritional values of the compost. Findings from this study suggested that the nutritional values of sludge significantly improved after amended composting, which could be one of the promising sources of nutrients for enhanced agricultural productivity. Also, the composting process greatly reduced the pathogens in sludge and helps to recycle the important nutrients for enhanced agriculture productivity. It is therefore recommended to use waste of paper mill waste as a rich source of macro and micro nutrients.