Cooking breakfast for soil 2: Testing of a low-cost scientific composter
- Beschreibung
Organic waste is everywhere, from the food leftovers in the kitchen to the cut grass and falling leaves from the garden. But those wastes don’t have to be a problem. Composting transforms waste into valuable soil amendments through microbial activity. Compost, the product, is a stable, nutrient-rich and sustainable material that reduces environmental impact.
Industrial composters have been doing this on a large scale for many years. But what if we could make it smaller, smarter, quicker and more flexible?
In a previous Humboldt Reloaded project, a tailor-made bench-scale composter was designed and commissioned, equipped with sensors for constant process temperature monitoring. In this project, your goal is to validate its ability to detoxify solid residues and produce high-quality compost. The project will involve tasks such as selecting suitable feedstocks and monitoring the composting process from start to finish. Ultimately, the quality of the produced compost will also be evaluated.
This innovative approach contributes to waste reduction, promoting environmental sustainability.
- Projektzeitraum
- Wintersemester 2025/2026
- Bewerbungszeitraum
- 13. bis 27.10.2025
- Durchführung
- semesterbegleitend
- Details zu Projektzeitraum und Durchführung
The working plan is divided into three main tasks:
- What residues will be composted? You will research different types of residues, and based on their properties, define the mix of residues to be composted.
- How does the composter work? You start the composting process while monitoring its main parameters. In this phase, you will correct any potential errors that this equipment may have. It will also be possible to propose improvements and modifications.
- Is the product a high-quality soil amendment? After the process is finished, the product, compost, will be evaluated as a soil amendment. In this phase, you will determine if the detoxification occurred as expected.
- Studienfach
- offen für alle Studienfächer
- Betreuende
- Gabriel De Freitas Batista, Prof. Dr. Andrea Kruse, Dr. Gero Becker
- Institut
- Institut für Agrartechnik (440) (Conversion technologies of biobased resources)
- Sprache
- englisch
- Teilnehmendenanzahl
- min. 1, max. 2
- Arbeitsaufwand
-
ca. 180 Stunden pro Teilnehmende:r
| 6
ECTS-Punkte
Arbeitsaufwand (Stunden und ggf. ECTS) sind ungefähre Angaben. Die tatsächlich vergebenen ECTS-Punkte ergeben sich aus der tatsächlich geleisteten Arbeit.
- Für dieses Projekt ist kein Motivationsschreiben des Studierenden erforderlich
- Projektart
- experimentell
- Lernziele
-
Die Teilnehmende lernen in diesem Projekt:
In this project, the participants will learn to:
- Perform literature research and obtain knowledge of a scientific area
- Biomass selection and characterization
- Operating a lab-scale composting equipment
- Problem-solving mindset
- Evaluation of soil amendments
- Communication with different faculty sectors and external companies
- Obtaining and analysing data from scientific experiments
- Presentation of obtained results using images, graphs and tables
- Anmerkungen für Studierende
For further questions regarding the project, contact me via email: gabriel.batista@uni-hohenheim.de
- Schlagworte
- Composting, Waste Management, detoxification, biological treatment, Fertilizer