Composting Processes

Breaking news: Organic Recycling Ltd is delighted to announce that on 12th April 2011 Lincolnshire County Council granted permission to extend the facilities at the Energy and Recycling Park at Decoy Farm. Download our brochure - click here.

There are three processes central to composting – windrow anaerobic composting, anaerobic digestion and biomass. Organic Recycling Limited (ORL) has until now used windrow composting as our main technique but we are now seeking to add anaerobic digestion and biomass technologies to increase the benefits to the environment and the local economy.

Windrow

At ORL we use a natural composting process of open aerobic windrows (structured and controlled piles of organic waste) to produce high quality peat replacement composts from recycled raw materials. These are organic materials, mainly the waste products from fruit and vegetable processing, garden waste, paper and cardboard.

Materials are mixed into a windrow within three hours of arriving on site

Materials are mixed into a windrow within three hours of arriving on site. Using a 360° excavator and loading shovels, the compost is turned weekly. The temperature of the compost is tested twice weekly. Once the compost has reached 60°C during three ‘turns’ it has been sterilised and as the temperature falls the material is then taken for curing.

Curing takes place in a maturing area and lasts for six to eight weeks. At the end of this time the material is screened (sieved) down to the target market size. The material is then analysed to ensure that it meets our high standards of quality before it goes for sale. Outsized material removed during the screening process is then re-composted.

For more information visit www.organicrecycling.co.uk

Anaerobic digestion

Currently, much of society’s biodegradable waste such as food, garden waste, card and paper is sent to landfill, where it breaks down to release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Anaerobic digestion is a treatment that naturally composts this waste in the absence of oxygen, producing a biogas that can be used to generate electricity and heat.

Producing 100 per cent natural renewable energy from biodegradable waste helps to tackle climate change – instead of contributing to it through landfill and incineration.

The process is odourless. It takes place in a controlled environment. Gases not used in biogas production are passed though a biofilter which removes any odour.

Three products are created from this process -  biogas which can be used to generate electricity, solid residue that can be used as a soil improver and liquid that can be used as a fertiliser.

Biomass

Biomass is biological material derived from living or recently living organisms. In the context of biomass for energy this is often used to mean plant-based material.

Waste wood and oversized material from the composting process will be collected and converted to renewable heat. It will be chipped, carefully treated and fed into a biomass boiler. The heat generated from this process will be used to run greenhouses on the site which could be used to produce a variety of crops.