Effect of different bulking agents on fed-batch composting and microbial community profile

The current study focused on analyzing the effect of different types of bulking agents and other factors on fed-batch composting and the structure of microbial communities. The results indicated that the introduction of bulking agents to fed-batch composting significantly improved composting efficiency as well as compost product quality. In particular, using green waste as a bulking agent, the compost products would achieve good performance in the following indicators: moisture (3.16%), weight loss rate (85.26%), and C/N ratio (13.98). The significant difference in moisture of compost products (p < 0.05) was observed in different sizes of bulking agent (green waste), which was because the voids in green waste significantly affected the capacity of the water to permeate. Meanwhile, controlling the size of green waste at 3–6 mm, the following indicators would show great performance from the compost products: moisture (3.12%), organic matter content (63.93%), and electrical conductivity (EC) (5.37 mS/cm). According to 16S rRNA sequencing, the relative abundance (RA) of thermophilic microbes increased as reactor temperature rose in fed-batch composting, among which Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Basidiomycota, and Rasamsonia were involved in cellulose and lignocellulose degradation.