Impact of structural amendment of Paper mill wastes with different organic materials on vermicomposting using Eisenia fetida earthworms

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1 Journal of Environment and Waste Management Vol. 4(1), pp , May, ISSN: XXXX-XXXX JEWM Research Article Impact of structural amendment of Paper mill wastes with different organic materials on vermicomposting using Eisenia fetida earthworms Devjani Mohapatra 1, K.K. Sahoo 1 and A. K. Sannigrahi 2* 1 Department of Chemistry, Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College, Proof Road, Balasore, Odisha, , India. 2* Proof & Experimental Establishment (PXE), Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Chandipur, Balasore, Odisha, , India. Solid wastes of Waste Paper based Emami Paper Mill at Balasore was collected from dumping ground by the side of Swapna nala (effluent releasing channel) and vermicomposted after mixing separately with different organic materials like cabbage leaves, water hyacinth, paddy straw and sawdust in different ratio either alone or in combination with cowdung. It was found that Paper Mill Wastes (PMW) alone was not palatable to Eisenia fetida, many of them either died or moved away from the tray. Amendment of PMW with cabbage leaves was also not promising. However, the amendment of PMW with cowdung and sawdust in 1:0.5:0.5 produced good quantity vermicompost in comparatively less time with better survival of earthworms. Vermicompost of this treatment was also recorded comparatively higher nutrient contents and performed better growth of paddy seedlings. Keywords: Cowdung, Eisenia fetida, Paddy straw, Paper Mill Wastes, Sawdust, Seedling growth, Vermicomposting, Vermicompost quality, Water hyacinth INTRODUCTION Paper mill wastes (PMW) are the residuals constituted with unsuitable fibers for paper making produced during pulping of raw materials, paper sludge, lime sludge, inks, fly ash, clays and other fillers found in de-inking sludge. The types and amount of wastes vary greatly amongst paper mills, depending on the specific production process used, nature of raw materials used and type of paper produced. With the diversity in quality and quantity of waste materials, their nutrient values also vary widely. Although many paper mills have started incineration of their wastes for energy recovery, a substantial amount (about 70%) of these solid wastes (by-products) is still dumped or spread directly on land (Yadav and Madan, 2013). However land spreading creates depletion of soil nitrogen (immobilization) due to high carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio and shows deleterious effects on plant growth. Paper Mill wastes are not easy material to compost and normally need both structural and nitrogen amendments to compost well (Tucker, 2005). Some researchers have tried for vermicomposting of different PMW after its amendment with sawdust (Thyagarajan et al., 2010), or fruit and vegetable wastes (Tucker, 2005), or food processing industry s wastes (Quintern, 2011), or Leaf litter and cowdung mixture (Ponmani et al., 2014), or mixture of Pig wastes, water hyacinth and cowdung (Natarajan and Gajendran, 2014), or with a mixture of Agricultural, municipal solid wastes and poultry wastes (Yadav and Madan, 2013). *Corresponding author: Asoke Kumar Sannigrahi, Proof & Experimental Establishment (PXE), Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Chandipur, Balasore, Odisha, , India. sannigrahi_ak@rediffmail.com Co-author: mohapatradevjanee@gmail.com 1, sahoo_karunakara@gmail.com 2

2 Mohapatra et al. 165 Figure 1. Heap of Paper Mill Wastes Vermicomposting is stabilization of organic waste materials with the help of epigeic earthworms and microorganisms. During vermicomposting, nutrients are converted into soluble and available forms required for growth of plants. Utilizing waste papers Emami Paper Mill at Balasore is producing 100 tons of fresh paper per day. During this process it also generates a huge quantity of different sludges. Those are dumped as Paper mill wastes by the side of effluent channel (Figure 1). PMW being toxic pollutes soil & water and hampers the growth of crops in nearby fields. So far no effort has been taken for any beneficial use of this waste. Experiment was carried out for vermicomposting of this paper mill waste after mixing with different locally available organic materials as structural amendments and for studying the quality of those vermicompost through chemical analysis of nutrients as well as through bioassay by growing paddy seedlings. MATERIALS AND METHODS PMW after collection from the dump yard of Waste paper based Paper Mill at Balasore dried in sheds and powdered for conducting experiment. Chemical analysis has shown that this PMW is almost neutral in reaction (ph 7.65) with electrical conductivity 3.0 ds/m and C/N ratio It contains 1.14% total N, 0.24% total P, 0.65% total K, 12.0% total Ca, 0.15% total S, 0.19% total Na, 22.1 mg/kg total Cr, 15.7 mg/kg total Pb and 1.32 mg/kg total Zn. Sawdust is collected from Remuna Saw Mill at Balasore. Its ph (1:2) and EC are 7.49 and 0.4 ds/m, respectively while total N, P, K, Ca, S and Na are 0.89%, 0.48%, 0.54%, 2.4%, 0.02% and 0.04%, respectively. Different substrates like cowdung, paddy straw, water hyacinth and cabbage leaves are collected locally. The experiment is conducted in rectangular plastic trays of capacity 2 kg. Paddy straw, water hyacinth and cabbage leaves are chopped into fine pieces for thoroughly mixing with PMW. Different organic materials are mixed in different ratios with PMW for making experimental beddings of 2 kg each. Sufficient water is added to make the beds moist. Each treatment is kept in triplicate following a randomized block design under the shade after covering each tray with hessian cloths. The bedding materials of all the trays are thoroughly mixed thrice at 7 days interval and covered every time. After 21 days 20 healthy adult Eisenia fetida earthworms are released on top of each bed and covered again with moist hessian cloths. Regular monitoring is done to maintain 70 to 80 % moisture by spraying deionized water as and when required. When composting material become black coloured loosely granular structured material up-to lower layer, as observed by physical verification once in a week, the bed materials are spread on the floor of laboratory room for partial air drying. Earthworms are

3 J. Environ. Waste Manag. 166 Figure 2. Growth of paddy seedlings on sands with different vermicomposts separated by hand sorting. Vermicompost of each replication is sieved separately through 2mm sieve and stored in plastic zipper bags. To determine the nutrient status different chemical analysis of these vermicomposts are done following standard methods mentioned by Bhargava and Raghupati (1993). Results are calculated on oven dry basis and analyzed statistically. Growth of paddy seedlings is studied in pot culture. Vermicomposts at the rate of 12 g/pot are mixed with 48 g sand taken in plastic pots of 100 ml capacity in triplicate and kept in randomized block design. Ten paddy seeds are placed on each pot and water is added to submerge seeds. After 15 days seedlings (Figure 2) are taken out of sand beds, washed thoroughly to remove sands and put on blotting papers to soak out excess water attached to seedlings. Plant weight is measured in electronic balance. Shoot length and root length are measured for each seedling. Seedlings are kept in oven for overnight drying at C. Dry weight of all seedlings of each pot is measured together. Average results are calculated. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Vermicomposts and growth of earthworms Quantities of Vermicomposts, prepared from Paper Mill wastes after its amendment with different organic materials, were presented in Table 1. Vermicomposting was not completed in Paper Mill waste alone (Control treatment) obviously due to dying of majority of earthworms and also less eating by survived earthworms as PMW alone was not palatable to Eisenia fetida. During investigation on paper mill sludge collected from the National Cellulose Company Ltd. in Spain as a feedstock for vermiculture, Elvira and Dominguez (1995) found that the worms suffered weight loss when it was their sole diet. When the raw sludge was supplemented with rabbit manure, sewage sludge, or pig or hen slurries, the earthworms grew well. In this experiment all organic materials showed positive impact on vermicomposting of PMW which took about 50 to 55 days times except the paddy straw, which took more time about 75 to 80 days. This is obvious since decomposition of paddy straw itself takes more time. The cabbage leaves as a structural amendment for vermicomposting of PMW was not at all encouraging as quantity of vermicompost produced was very less. The earthworms could not survive in this composition due to high moisture in cabbage leaves added beds, either gone outside or died. The water hyacinth with PMW combination, though found little better in performance, but the amount of vermicompost production was also recorded very less. However, the amendment of PMW with cowdung and sawdust gave encouraging results by taking comparatively lesser time for vermicomposting. The survival of earthworms and the quantity of vermicompost production were also found better in those treatments. Sawdust with PMW in 1:1 combination produced highest amount of vermicompost (1.84 kg). Addition of 0.5 kg cowdung with other substrates always recorded better performance. Thyagarajan et al. (2010) also reported earlier about beneficial impact of sawdust during co-composting of

4 Mohapatra et al. 167 Table 1. Period of vermicomposting and Quantity of vermicomposts produced from Emami Paper Mill wastes amended with different substrates Treatme nts Quantity of mixed raw materials in beds T1 2 kg Paper mill waste (PMW) T2 1.5 kg (PMW) kg cow dung (CD) Period of vermicomp osting (days) Vermi compost produced (kg) Noncomposte d portion Earthworms at harvesting Nos. (Big + weight Small) (g) Not fully completed T3 1 kg PMW T4 0.5 kg PMW T5 1.5 kg PMW kg Cabbage Leaves (CL) T6 1 kg PMW + 1 kg CL T7 0.5 kg PMW kg CL T8 1 kg PMW kg CL T9 1.5 kg PMW kg Paddy straw (PS) T10 1 kg PMW kg PS T kg PMW kg water T12 1 kg PMW + 1 kg WH T kg PMW kg WH T14 1 kg PMW kg WH T15 1 kg PMW + 1 kg Saw dust (SD) T16 1 kg PMW kg SD pulp and paper mill sludge in presence of cowdung and effective microorganism. The non-composted portion was found highest in T1 i.e. vermicomposting of PMW alone followed by treatments where PMW was amended with water hyacinth and cabbage leaves, which supports earlier explanation about their non-palatability. Vermicomposting using Eisenia fetida was almost completed (> 90%) in presence of saw dust. The number and weight of earthworms harvested from different beds after completion of vermicomposting showed that PMW alone was not good for earthworm growth and survival (Table 1). The PMW in combination of cabbage leaves and water hyacinths at different ratios were also found not much conducive for growth and survival of earthworms. High moisture released from cabbage leaves and water hyacinth along with acidic environment created during their decomposition might have made un-favourable salty environment for earthworms inside the beds due to mineralization and consequent release of ions from PMW. The availability of more number of adult and juvenile earthworms during vermicomposting of PMW with both cowdung and sawdust in different ratios suggested that Eisenia fetida liked this combination. However, as per body weight and population of earthworms, combination of sawdust and cowdung as amendment to Emami Paper Mill wastes (T16) performed as best for vermicomposting. This might be due to availability of better airy and moist environment for growth and palatable feed for earthworms in this particular combination than other substrates used in this experiment. Chemical analysis of vermicomposts The ph is an important parameter in the vermicompost quality since it helps in promoting plant growth. The ph of vermicomposts varied from 7.05 to 8.04, indicating some rise of ph when PMW was amended with different substrates, especially with cowdung and sawdust (Table 2). Thyagarajan et al. (2010) also recorded slight increase in ph of composts produced from Pulp and Paper Industry sludge amended with sawdust and cowdung. Garg et al. (2006) observed near neutral ph in the range of in final vermicompost prepared from different types of waste using Eisenia fetida. Slight increase in ph of vermicomposts might be due to degradation of short-chained fatty acids and

5 J. Environ. Waste Manag. 168 Table 2. Physico chemical characteristics (ph, EC, Oxidizable organic carbon and Moisture content) of processed vermicomposts Treatme nts Quantity of mixed raw materials in beds ph (1 : 2) EC (ds/m) Oxidizable organic carbon Moisture content T1 2 kg Paper mill waste (PMW) T2 1.5 kg (PMW) kg cow dung (CD) T3 1 kg PMW T4 0.5 kg PMW T5 1.5 kg PMW kg Cabbage Leaves (CL) T6 1 kg PMW + 1 kg CL T7 0.5 kg PMW kg CL T8 T9 T10 T11 1 kg PMW kg CL kg CD 1.5 kg PMW kg Paddy straw (PS) 1 kg PMW kg PS kg CD 1.5 kg PMW kg water T12 1 kg PMW + 1 kg WH T kg PMW kg WH T14 1 kg PMW kg WH kg CD T15 1 kg PMW + 1 kg Saw dust (SD) T16 1 kg PMW kg SD kg CD ammonification of organic nitrogen (Michel and Reddy, 1998). Electrical conductivity (EC) of vermicomposts prepared in different treatments varied from 2.70 to 6.90 ds/m showing decreasing trend in presence of cowdung and sawdust but slight increasing trend in presence of water hyacinth and cabbage leaves in comparison to PMW alone (Table 2). The EC indicates the level of total dissolved salts in a compost sample at particular stage of degradation and the most desired value should be < 3.0 ds/m (Brinton, 2000). The decreasing pattern of EC during composting of Pulp and Paper Industry sludge in presence of sawdust cowdung amendments was also observed by Thyagarajan et al. (2010). Pattnaik and Vikram (2010) reported earlier about EC reduction during vermicomposting of urban green waste processed by three earthworm species Eisenia fetida, Eudrilus eugeniae and Perionyx excavatus. The slight increasing trend of EC, however, was recorded by Natarajan and Gajendran (2014) during vermicomposting of Paper Mill sludge with water hyacinth amendment which might be due to mineralization and consequent formation of ions from waste mixtures in presence of earthworms. Umamaheswari et al. (2009) and Prakash and Hemlatha (2013) also observed slight increase in EC during vermistabilization of Paper Mill sludge. Amendment of Paper Mill waste with different substrates showed considerable variation in oxidizable organic

6 Mohapatra et al. 169 Table 3. Macro Nutrient status in vermicomposts prepared from PMW amended with different substrates Treatments Quantity of mixed raw materials in beds Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium T1 2 kg Paper mill waste (PMW) T2 1.5 kg (PMW) kg cow dung (CD) T3 1 kg PMW T4 0.5 kg PMW T5 1.5 kg PMW kg Cabbage Leaves (CL) T6 1 kg PMW + 1 kg CL T7 0.5 kg PMW kg CL T8 1 kg PMW kg CL T9 1.5 kg PMW kg Paddy straw (PS) T10 1 kg PMW kg PS T kg PMW kg water T12 1 kg PMW + 1 kg WH T kg PMW kg WH T14 1 kg PMW kg WH T15 1 kg PMW + 1 kg Saw dust (SD) T16 1 kg PMW kg SD carbon content of processed vermicomposts, lowest (3.13%) was recorded in PMW alone while highest (12.51%) was recorded in treatment T16 where half of PMW was amended with both sawdust and cowdung. Mixing with water hyacinth also recorded little higher quantity (4.4 to 9.9%) of organic carbon in comparison to cowdung, cabbage leaves or paddy straw. Moisture content is an important factor in degradation because it influences the structural and thermal properties of the material, as well as the rate of degradation and metabolic process of microorganisms. The total moisture percentage of processed vermicomposts was varied from 29.9 to 56.2 percent, indicating well maintenance of moisture by all vermicomposts. nutrient status presented in Table 3 clearly showed that addition of cowdung, cabbage leaves, water hyacinth, and paddy straw or sawdust as structural amendment with Emami Paper Mill wastes improved the total nitrogen status of vermicomposts processed by Eisenia fetida. nitrogen was recorded 0.55% in vermicompost prepared from PMW alone. But amendment with cowdung increased total nitrogen 0.86 to 0.95%, cabbage leaves 0.57 to 1.13%, paddy straw 0.87 to 1.21%, water hyacinth 0.97 to 1.43% and sawdust 1.32 to 1.41%, respectively. Addition of cowdung with other substrates always reduced the total nitrogen content, which might be due to less presence of total nitrogen (0.55%) in cowdung itself in comparison to other substrates. Availability of total nitrogen in vermicomposts, though mainly depends on the nitrogen content present in raw materials used for vermicomposting, but usually increases during vermicomposting due to net loss of dry mass in terms of CO2 during oxidation of organic matter and due to addition of mucus and nitrogenous waste secreted by earthworms. The increase of total nitrogen in vermicomposts confirmed the earlier findings of Elvira et al. (1998), Tucker (2005), Umamaheswari et al. (2009), Thyagarajan et al. (2010), Yadav and Madan (2013), Natarajan and Gajendran (2014), Sonowal et al. (2014) and Ponmani et al. (2014) during their experiment on composting / vermicomposting of paper mill wastes with different substrates. The total phosphorus content was observed 0.27% in vermicomposts prepared from PMW alone. However amendments of PMW with water hyacinth and sawdust increased the total phosphorus content in vermicomposts while amendment with cowdung alone or in combination with other substrates, on the contrary, reduced the total phosphorus contents. Lower in phosphorus with cowdung amendment was reported earlier by Tucker (2005) while higher phosphorus with sawdust amendment was recorded earlier by Thyagarajan et al. (2010) and Yadav and Madan (2013), with water hyacinth by Natarajan and Gajendran (2014) and with leaf litters by Ponmani et al.

7 J. Environ. Waste Manag. 170 Table 4. Calcium, sulphur and sodium status in vermicomposts prepared from PMW amended with different substrates Treatme nts Quantity of mixed raw materials in beds Calcium Sulphur Sodium T1 2 kg Paper mill waste (PMW) T2 1.5 kg (PMW) kg cow dung (CD) T3 1 kg PMW T4 0.5 kg PMW T5 1.5 kg PMW kg Cabbage Leaves (CL) T6 1 kg PMW + 1 kg CL T7 0.5 kg PMW kg CL T8 1 kg PMW kg CL T9 1.5 kg PMW kg Paddy straw (PS) T10 1 kg PMW kg PS T kg PMW kg water T12 1 kg PMW + 1 kg WH T kg PMW kg WH T14 1 kg PMW kg WH T15 1 kg PMW + 1 kg Saw dust (SD) T16 1 kg PMW kg SD (2014), mainly depending on the nutrient contents present in added substrate. Umamaheswari et al. (2009) and Sonowal et al. (2014) also reported increase in total phosphorus content in vermicomposts prepared from solid pulp and paper mill sludge after mixing with cowdung. with amendments by different substrates. The total sodium contents also followed similar decreasing trends with addition of different substrates. Impact of vermicomposts on growth of paddy seedlings Similar to nitrogen total potassium content was also considerably increased in all vermicomosts prepared from amended paper mill wastes with different substrates. However, comparatively higher potassium was noticed with paddy straw amendment (1.54 to 1.87%) and water hyacinth amendment (0.73 to 1.99%). These findings were in consistent with other researchers (Tucker, 2005; Umamaheswari et al., 2009; Thyagarajan et al., 2010; Yadav and Madan, 2013; Natarajan and Gajendran, 2014 and Ponmani et al., 2014). Data presented in Table 4 indicated that total Calcium contents ranging from 6.48 to percent recorded considerable reduction with amendment of paper mill waste by different substrates, obviously due to its less concentration in different substrates as compared to PMW. More reduction was noticed in sawdust amendment while lesser reduction in water hyacinth amendment. Similar to total calcium, total sulphur ranging from 0.09 to 0.41 % was also found comparatively lesser Table 5 showed that paddy seed germination was proper only in vermicompost prepared from PMW amended with saw dust and cow dung at 1:0.5:0.5 ratios, however the germination is affected severely in vermicompost amended with cabbage leaves followed by paddy straw and water hyacinth. Germination was completed within 5 days. Vermicomposts prepared from PMW amended with different substrates performed better in seedling growths than vermicomposts of PMW alone, which was obvious since former vermicomposts were significantly higher in their nutrient availability in comparison to later one. Both shoot and root length also showed similar pattern. In this experiment, the vermicomposts of treatment T16 prepared from the mixture of PMW (1 kg) with CD (0.5 kg) and SD (0.5 kg) gave best growth of paddy seedlings (average shoot length 23.5 cm, average root length cm, average weight of seedlings 1.05 g and dry weight of seedling 0.13 g). In case of amendment of PMW with cabbage leaves, earthworms either died or left the beds during vermicomposting. Quick wilting of paddy seedlings

8 Mohapatra et al. 171 Table 5. Germination and growth of paddy seedlings in sand with vermicomposts Treatme Quantity of mixed raw Shoot length Root Fresh Dry weight nts materials in beds Seeds (cm) length weight of of seedling germinate (cm) Seedling (g) d (g) T1 2 kg Paper mill waste (PMW) T2 1.5 kg (PMW) kg cow dung (CD) T3 1 kg PMW T4 0.5 kg PMW T5 1.5 kg PMW kg 3 Cabbage Leaves (CL) seedlings wilted quickly T6 1 kg PMW + 1 kg CL 3 T7 0.5 kg PMW kg CL 3 T8 1 kg PMW kg CL T9 1.5 kg PMW kg Paddy straw (PS) T10 1 kg PMW kg PS T kg PMW kg water T12 1 kg PMW + 1 kg WH T kg PMW kg WH T14 1 kg PMW kg WH T15 1 kg PMW + 1 kg Saw dust (SD) T16 1 kg PMW kg SD within 3 days after germination also pointed towards formation of some toxic condition due to reaction with some chemicals present in PMW with extract of cabbage leaves during decomposition. CONCLUSION The vermicomposts prepared from amended Paper Mill Wastes were no doubt nutrient rich, odour free, more matured and stabilized than initial waste mixture. The PMW was not able to support earthworm growth, thus not useful for vermicomposting alone. However the mixtures of PMW with Cow dung and Saw dust in 1:0.5:0.5 ratios were found most suitable for growth and survivability of earthworms, for producing nutrient rich vermicompost and for growth of paddy seedlings. The study, therefore, suggests that the paper mill waste can be beneficially used for crop growth after vermicomposting it with saw dust - cow dung amendment. This vermicompost being rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium will be very useful to farmer for their crop growth. This study also reveals that vermicomposting technology could be effectively used to combat the problem of recycling of Emami Paper Mill solid waste. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The first author is thankful to the Principal, F M (A) College, Balasore for extending laboratory facility to carry out her research work. REFERENCES Bhargava BS, Raghupati HB (1993) Analysis of plant materials for macro and micronutrients. In: Methods of Analysis of Soils, Plants, Waters and Fertilizers. Ed H L S Tandon. Fertilizer Development and Consultation Organization, New Delhi, India. pp Brinton WF (2000) Compost Quality Standards & Guidelines. Final Report of Woods End Research Laboratory, New York, December 2000, pp Accessed 14 Mar 2014 Elvira C, Dominguez J (1995) Vermicomposting for the Paper Pulp Industry. Biocycle, 36(6):

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