Effect of tea, eggshell addition on compost making and compost characterization; a case study for Bilecik Seyh Edebali University

In this study, tea wastes of Bilecik Seyh Edebali University Faculty of Engineering, daily meal preparation wastes of refectory and nutshell were supplied as compost raw materials. In the study; fundamental compost mixture was consisted of organic wastes such as tea waste, fruit peel, eggshell, vegetable peel, nutshell and waste napkins. Eggshell and tea waste raw materials were used in different weight percent in compost prescription. The mixture supplied from garden of university was added to soil. Moisture, pH and elemental analysis results were determined for each organic waste which was feed to column. In the control period, columns were carefully stirred; moisture analyzer, and C/N ratio calculation in accordance with formula of samples were carried out for the samples taken from these columns, conversion of C/N ratio was recorded until the end of the process. Several experimental techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) were applied to characterize the samples. In this investigation prescription was named K1 determined as fundamental prescription in both two investigations. Percent of tea waste mixture in compost and code of prescriptions were determined as 11 (K1); 17 (K2); 23 (K3); 27 (K4) and percent of eggshell mixture and code of prescriptions were determined as 11 (K1); 23 (K5) ve 27 (K6). Furthermore compost/peat mixtures were composed in the vases in 1/4 and 2/4 ratio to determine the effect of the formed compost on plant yield. Control was realized by only plant peat to indicate the effect of compost. Arugula crops were grown in defined platform and plant growth was examined as height and weight. Plant suitability tests were run in two parallels. According to the results, addition of both eggshell and tea waste was effected on compost quality and formation time, significantly. In compost formation process, moisture content increased from 34.80% to 60.66%, ratio of C/N increased from 7.87 to 25.51 and minimum pH value was measured as 8.02 at the end of composting. The best value for the formation of compost is K6 and it has been reached to the best plant formation value in 50% compost mixture.