Phospholipid fatty acid analysis to monitor the co-composting process of olive oil mill wastes and organic household refuse

F. Barje (1) , S. Amir (2) , Peter Winterton (3) , Eric Pinelli (4) , Georges Merlina (4) , J. Cegarra (5) , Jean-Claude Revel (4) , Mohamed Hafidi (1)

1 Laboratoire d'écologie Végétale, Sol et Environnement (Marrakech, Morocco)
2 Département de Biologie (Beni-Mellal, Morocco)
3 UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier
4 LEFE - Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement
5 Department of Soil and Water Conservation and Organic Waste Management (Murcia, Spain)

The co-composting of olive oil mill wastes and household refuse was followed for 5 months. During the thermophilic phase of composting, the aerobic heterotrophic bacteria (AHB) count, showed a significant rise with a slight regression of fungal biomass. In the same way, phospholipid fatty acids PLFAs common in bacteria, showed a significant increase of hydroxyl and branched PLFAs. The evaluation of the ratio of octadecenoic PLFAs to stearic acid (C18:1/C18:0) revealed a significant reduction while a significant rise in the length of aliphatic chains evaluated by the stearic acid to palmitic acid ratio (C18:0/C16:0) was noted during the stabilization phase. The follow-up of PLFAs, indicates the degree of biodegradation that occurs during composting, it can be regarded an indicator of the stability and maturity of the end product.

Mots clés: Composting; Biodegradability; Microbial biomass; PLFAs; Composting

Domaines: Chimie organique

F. Barje, S. Amir, Peter Winterton, Eric Pinelli, Georges Merlina, et al.. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis to monitor the co-composting process of olive oil mill wastes and organic household refuse. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2008, 154, pp.682-687. ⟨hal-00716975⟩