Abstract

In order to find out an alternative way of analysis of food waste compost, the Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy(NIRS) was used for the compost assessment because the technics has been known as non-detructive, cost-effective and rapid method. One hundred thirty six compost samples were collected from Incheon food waste compost factory at Namdong Indurial Complex. The samples were analyzed for nitrogen, organic matter (OM), ash, P, and K using Kjedahl, ignition method, and acid extraction with spectrophotometer, respectively. The samples were scanned using FOSS NIRSystem of Model 6500 scanning mono-chromator with wavelength from $400\~2,400nm$ at 2nm interval. Modified partial Least Squares(MPLS) was applied to develop the most reliable calibration model between NIR spectra and sample components such as nitrogen, ash, OM, P, and K. The regression was validated using validation set(n=30). Multiple correlation coefficient($R^2$) and standard error of prediction(SEP) for nitrogen, ash, organic matter, OM/N ratio, P and K were 0.87, 0.06, 0.72, 1.07, 0.68, 1.05, 0.89, 0.31, 0.77, 0.06, and 0.64, 0.07, respectively. The results of this experiment indicates that NIRS is reliable analytical method to assess some components of feed waste compost, also suggests that feasibility of NIRS can be Justified in case of various sample collection around the year.

Keywords

• food waste compost;
• Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy(NIRS)