Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Waste
in UMS Campus for Resource Recovery
and Waste Reduction
Newati Wid and Lucita Felicity Ayut
Abstract Phosphorus, a limited non-renewable mineral source can be recovered
from food waste in a form of struvite, a slow-release fertiliser. This study was conducted to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of food wastes collected from Tun Mustapha Residences café of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS),
to recover phosphorus and reduce the amount of food waste produced. Anaerobic
digestion was used to degrade the organic solid waste and solubilise nutrients, which
was performed at controlled conditions (pH 6.8–7.2; 37 °C) for 15 days. The results
showed that the total solids and volatile solids for the raw sample were high, 42.9%
and 94.3%, respectively; due to high solid and organic content. The concentration of
magnesium (Mg
2+ ), ammonium (NH 4
+ ) and phosphate (PO 4
3− ) after digestion were
114.00 mg/L, 73.87 mg/L and 554.04 mg/L, respectively. The phosphorus can be
potentially recovered in the form of struvite with 136 g struvite/g food waste. After
anaerobic digestion, total solids and volatile solids were degraded with 40.11% and
76.51% reduction, respectively. Throughout this study, it can be suggested that food
waste is naturally high in nutrient content that can be a source for phosphorus recovery in which the waste volume can be reduced after performing anaerobic digestion.
Keywords Kitchen food wastes · Phosphorus recovery · Struvite · Anaerobic
digestion · UMS
1 Introduction
Kitchen waste is one of the municipal wastes comprising degradable and nondegradable materials produced in a kitchen. Non-degradable kitchen wastes refer
N. Wid (B) · L. F. Ayut
Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota
Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: newati@ums.edu.my
N. Wid
Water Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Z. Yaser (ed.), Green Engineering for Campus Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_10
133
in UMS Campus for Resource Recovery
and Waste Reduction
Newati Wid and Lucita Felicity Ayut
Abstract Phosphorus, a limited non-renewable mineral source can be recovered
from food waste in a form of struvite, a slow-release fertiliser. This study was conducted to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of food wastes collected from Tun Mustapha Residences café of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS),
to recover phosphorus and reduce the amount of food waste produced. Anaerobic
digestion was used to degrade the organic solid waste and solubilise nutrients, which
was performed at controlled conditions (pH 6.8–7.2; 37 °C) for 15 days. The results
showed that the total solids and volatile solids for the raw sample were high, 42.9%
and 94.3%, respectively; due to high solid and organic content. The concentration of
magnesium (Mg
2+ ), ammonium (NH 4
+ ) and phosphate (PO 4
3− ) after digestion were
114.00 mg/L, 73.87 mg/L and 554.04 mg/L, respectively. The phosphorus can be
potentially recovered in the form of struvite with 136 g struvite/g food waste. After
anaerobic digestion, total solids and volatile solids were degraded with 40.11% and
76.51% reduction, respectively. Throughout this study, it can be suggested that food
waste is naturally high in nutrient content that can be a source for phosphorus recovery in which the waste volume can be reduced after performing anaerobic digestion.
Keywords Kitchen food wastes · Phosphorus recovery · Struvite · Anaerobic
digestion · UMS
1 Introduction
Kitchen waste is one of the municipal wastes comprising degradable and nondegradable materials produced in a kitchen. Non-degradable kitchen wastes refer
N. Wid (B) · L. F. Ayut
Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota
Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: newati@ums.edu.my
N. Wid
Water Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Z. Yaser (ed.), Green Engineering for Campus Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_10
133