Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2016) 1e6

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Effect of green waste pretreatment by sodium hydroxide and biomass

fly ash on composting process
Somjai Karnchanawong*, Trinapat Mongkontep, Kornvipat Praphunsri
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Green waste contains a major portion of lignocellulose which is hard to be decomposed. The objective of
Received 24 December 2015 this study was to determine the effect of alkaline pretreatment using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and
Received in revised form biomass fly ash for the composting of Samanea saman. The experimental detail consists of seven runs,
13 July 2016
that is, control; 1%, 2%, and 3% NaOH treatments; and 6.2%, 12.4%, and 12.4% biomass fly ash treatments.
Accepted 20 July 2016
The pretreatment was conducted by mixing of NaOH and fly ash with green waste for 2 d and trans-
Available online xxx
ferring the mixture to be composted in 55-L polystyrene thermo cooler boxes. The composting was
performed for 105 d. The temperature was recorded daily and the compost characteristics were analyzed
Keywords:
Alkaline pretreatment
every 7e14 d. The highest maximum temperature was found in the NaOH treatment. However, the mean
Sodium hydroxide temperatures of all the experiments were not significantly different. The initial C/N ratios of the waste for
Biomass fly ash all the runs ranged from 51.11 to 54.90 before continually decreasing/increasing to be in the range of
Composting 42.64e65.28 at the end of the experiment. The high C/N ratio of the end compost in the alkaline
Lignocellulose treatment might be attributed to the high initial C/N ratio and the N loss that resulted from the high pH
Lignin of the compost material. The results of the lignin mass reduction show that 1e2% NaOH and 6.2% fly ash
treatments can reduce lignin 2 times better than the control. However, higher doses of alkaline matter
can increase the nitrogen loss due to volatilization of ammonia in the higher pH condition. In order to
enhance the decomposition of green waste and minimize the nitrogen loss in the composting process,
the pretreatment by 6.2% of fly ash can be selected.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction gases, such as nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon

Green waste represents a significant proportion of municipal
solid waste (MSW) which is currently handled by the municipal
authority in Thailand. The proportion of green waste in the MSW, as
recorded by the Pollution Control Department, Thailand, is in the
range of 3e18.5% (PCD, 2014). At present, most green waste is
disposed to landfills or subjected to open-burning in suburbs and
rural areas. Decomposition of organic waste under anaerobic con-
ditions in landfills produces greenhouse gases, namely methane
(CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The comparative impact of CH4 on
climate change is 25 times greater than that of CO2 over a 100-year
period (USEPA, 2016). CH4 is considered to be a significant
contributor to global warming and control of CH4 emissions from
landfills is of great importance. Green waste is usually open-burned
in suburbs and rural areas in many developing countries. Various
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: somjai@eng.cmu.ac.th (S. Karnchanawong).
monoxide, and particle pollution, are released into the environ-
ment (Kannan et al., 2004). Dioxins are also emitted from inciner-
ation of fallen leaf (Katami et al., 2004) and backyard burning
(Wevers et al., 2004). Green waste should be treated properly. Life
cycle assessment studies concluded that composting of organic
waste has lesser environmental impact as compared to other
methods of disposals, such as landfilling and incineration (Saer
et al., 2013). In addition, composting is widely regarded as a clean
and sustainable method to manage organic waste (Lim et al., 2016).
Composting is a viable alternative method for managing green
waste. In most cities in the developed countries, such as Germany
and Australia, green waste is collected separately from other kinds
of waste and is mechanically shredded and then composted, either
alone or with other organic waste. Green waste is mainly ligno-
cellulosic biomass. The main component of lignocellulose is cellu-
lose, a linked chain of glucose molecules. Hydrogen bonds between
the different layers of the polysaccharides contribute to the resis-
tance of crystalline cellulose to degradation. Hemicellulose, the
second most abundant component of lignocellulose, is composed of

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.126
0959-6526/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Karnchanawong, S., et al., Effect of green waste pretreatment by sodium hydroxide and biomass fly ash on
composting process, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.126
2 S. Karnchanawong et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2016) 1e6
various 5-carbon and 6-carbon sugars. Lignin is composed of three
major phenolic components and is synthesized by the polymeri-
zation of these components, and their ratio within the polymer
varies between different plants, wood tissues, and cell wall layers
(Rubin, 2008). Lignocellulose is difficult to degrade; therefore, the
composting period required for green plant waste stabilization is
longer than that for other organic waste. The biodegradability of
lignocellulose can be enhanced by pretreatment of lignocellulosic
materials, including by removing the lignin, loosening the cellulose
structure (Zhang and Liu, 2005), and increasing the effective con-
tact area of the cellulose with the microorganisms (Kim et al.,
2008). There are numerous pretreatment techniques for the
delignification of biomass materials, and alkaline pretreatment is
among the most common ones due to its low cost (Behera et al.,
2014). Sun et al. (2011) revealed that alkaline treatment can
reduce lignin and cellulose, and increase hemicelluloses by
partially breaking the chemical bond between lignin and cellulose.
Recently, increasing use of biomass power plants has signifi-
cantly increased the amount of fly ash in Thailand. Fly ash can be
applied as an amendment in composting due to its known capa-
bility to buffer pH (Kurola et al., 2011) and reduce compost mal-
odors (Koivula et al., 2004). Fly ash contains several minerals
needed for plant growth and has been used widely for soil
amendment (Jala and Goyal, 2006). Karnchanawong et al. (2014)
found that there was no effect from the addition of biomass fly
ash for up to 12% of the compost mix on the composting process
performance and that there was no indication of an increase in the
ammonia volatilization from the compost mixes. In addition, it was
found out that fly ash can neutralize acidic soil and increase
vegetable yield (Karnchanawong and Najarus, 2014). Another study
conducted by Jua rez et al. (2015) also illustrated that the addition of
up to 15% of wood ash to biowaste did not negatively affect the
composting process; however, composts with higher ash amend-
ment (>12%) did not comply with the highest quality standards
established by the Austrian Compost Ordinance (FLG II Nr. 292/
2001) in terms of Cd level.
Previous studies have focused on the fermentation of agricul-
tural lignocellulosic stalks pretreated by alkaline for ethanol
products such as biobutanol (Cai et al., 2016) and acetone butanol
ethanol (Gao and Rehmann, 2014). There has been very little
research reported on the effects of alkaline pretreatment on green
waste composting. In addition, most fly ash has alkaline properties
and may be used as an alkaline agent to pretreat the lignocellulosic
material before composting. This study was conducted to deter-
mine the effect of alkaline pretreatment, using NaOH and biomass
fly ash, on green waste composting.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Composting process
The composting was conducted in seven 55 L polystyrene
thermo cooler boxes. The internal and external, and the interior
dimensions were 500  500  300 mm and 450  450  27 mm.
Table 1
Alkaline agent used in the experiments.
Run Alkaline agent
1 Control (C) None
2 NaOH 1% Industrial grade NaOH
3 NaOH 2%
4 NaOH 3%
5 Fly ash 6.2% Biomass fly ash
6 Fly ash 12.4%
7 Fly ash 18.6%
Please cite this article in press as: Karnchanawong, S., et al., Effect of green waste pretreatment by sodium hydroxide and biomass fly ash on
composting process, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.126
The Samanea saman tree green waste inclusive of leaf and small
branch (10 kg) was collected from Chiang Mai University campus.
The waste was shredded to less than 25 mm by knife mill. NaOH
and biomass fly ash were selected to be the alkaline materials to
pretreat the green waste. The alkaline agents used in this study
were NaOH (industrial grade, CAS:1310-73-2, AGC Chemicals,
Thailand, with a pH of 13.45) and biomass fly ash (with a pH of
10.35) supplied by the Sahacogen Green Biomass Power Plant
located in the Lamphun province, Thailand. The biomass materials
used in the power plant were wood chips, rice husk, corn cob, and
wood shavings. The experimental detail consists of seven runs, as
presented in Table 1. The initial value of the C/N ratio of the green
waste was around 50/1. The pretreatment was conducted by mixing
each alkaline material and water, and then adding the mixture to
the green waste in a 70 L polyethylene bin for 2 d. The amounts of
NaOH and biomass fly ash added into the green waste were 1%, 2%,
and 3% and 6.2%, 12.4%, and 18.6% (wt/wt of green waste wet
weight), and these had the same basicity of pure NaOH at 0.88%,
1.76%, and 2.64% (see Table 1). The water was added to the mixtures
in order to make the moisture content around 80%. After that, the
waste was spread on the floor for air-drying for 1 d and composted
in the 55-L polystyrene thermo cooler boxes. The composting
process was conducted at an indoor ambient temperature which
was in the range of 20.3e29.4  C. Each experiment was performed
in duplicate. The composting was performed for 105 d, and the
turning was manually conducted once a day for around 5 min in
order to aerate and mix the compost material. The moisture con-
tent during the composting period was controlled to be in the range
of 50e70% (Cronje  et al., 2004) by spraying water after analysis of
the compost mix moisture content using the gravimetric method.
2.2. Sample analysis
The temperature at the middle part of the waste layer in each
box was recorded daily using a digital thermometer. Six sub-
samples of the compost were randomly collected from two equi-
distant cross sections and three parts of each box. Each sample was
taken by mixing the six subsamples and then analyzed for pH,
electrical conductivity (EC), moisture content, C, N, volatile solids
(VS), lignocellulose, and lignin. The analyses were performed once a
week except the analyses for lignocellulose and lignin which were
conducted once every 2 weeks. After 105 d, the compost from each
box was removed and weighed to determine the total mass
reduction. The pH and EC of the compost were determined by
measuring the slurry in the ratio of 1:10 of compost to water, using
a Horiba F-21 pH meter (Kyoto, Japan). The organic carbon content
was determined using a method based on Walkley and Black
(Walkley and Black, 1934). The nitrogen content was analyzed by a
modified micro-Kjeldahl procedure using a 2100 Kjeltec distillation
unit (FOSS, Hillerød, Denmark), according to the AOAC methods
(AOAC, 2005). The moisture content and the VS were determined
using a gravimetric method (APHA, 1997). The lignin and ligno-
cellulose were analyzed using a detergent method based on AOAC
(AOAC, 2005).
Basicity as pure NaOH
e
0.1 kg 0.88%
0.2 kg 1.76%
0.3 kg 2.64%
0.62 kg 0.88%
1.24 kg 1.76%
1.86 kg 2.64%
 S. Karnchanawong et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2016) 1e6
Fig. 1. The variations in the temperature over time.
2.3. Statistical analysis
One-way ANOVA at 95% confidence limit and Tukey's Post Hoc
Test using SPSS software (version 21) were used to compare the
results of this study.
3. Results and discussions
The variations in the characteristics of the compost over time
are presented in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, and the compost characteristics
are shown in Table 2.
3.1. Temperature, pH, and EC
It is generally accepted that composting is a four-phase process,
consisting of the mesophilic phase (25e40  C), thermophilic phase
(35e65  C), cooling phase (second mesophilic phase), and matu-
ration phase (Diaz et al., 2007). As shown in Fig. 1, only NaOH 2%
and the NaOH 3% treatments could reach the thermophilic range
for a few days during days 3e5 (40.3e43.8  C), while the other
treatment temperatures were in the mesophilic range over the
composting period. The lower temperature results compared to the
general composting process might be due to the heat loss from the
high surfaceevolume ratio of the smaller-volume composting box.
These results correspond to the results by Nair and Okamitsu,
(2010) who investigated the effect of microbial inoculation on
composting on a small scale and Kop ci
c et al. (2014) who performed
a study to evaluate the co-composting of tobacco and apple wastes
on a laboratory scale.
During the first two weeks of composting, all three NaOH
treatment temperatures showed the higher significant difference
(p > 0.05), compared with other treatments, which might have
resulted from the higher biodegradable activities presented in
these three runs. However, when the overall composting period
was considered, there was no significant difference observed be-
tween the three treatments. All the temperatures approached the
ambient temperature around day 90 of the composting period.
Microbial activities are generally influenced by the pH, and a
neutral pH is suggested to be optimal for the composting process.
Both the alkaline pretreatments, using NaOH and using fly ash,
increased the pH of the composting mass to greater than 8 at the
Please cite this article in press as: Karnchanawong, S., et al., Effect of green waste pretreatment by sodium hydroxide and biomass fly ash on
composting process, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.126
3
beginning period of the composting. The pH of all composts in the
control, the NaOH, and the fly ash treatments continually increased
to be greater than 9 at the end of the composting period. The pH of
the compost in the control, the NaOH, and the fly ash treatments
were significantly different (p < 0.05).
Fig. 2 shows a similar pattern of change in EC for all composting
mixtures. The EC of the composts increased continually in accor-
dance with the composting time due to the mineralization process
of the organic matter. The EC increase could have been caused by
the release of mineral salts through the decomposition of organic
substances (Fang and Wong, 1999). Similar to the pH profile, the EC
of the compost in the control, the NaOH, and the fly ash treatments
were found to be significantly different. However, there was no
significant difference between the subgroups of the alkaline
treatments. The higher values observed could be attributed to the
strong base completely dissociating into ions in the aqueous solu-
tion of NaOH and the high mineral content in the fly ash from solid
biomass (Insam and Knapp, 2011).
3.2. Volatile solids, carbon, nitrogen, and C/N ratio
Organic matter represents combustible content or “volatile
solids” (VS) and is typically reported in terms of total weight loss on
ignition as VS. The percentages of volatile solids as.
representative of the organic content at the beginning were in
the range of 72.6e93.21% which then decreased to become in the
range of 63.9e89.9% at the end of the composting period. The VS
contents in all the treatments were found to be significantly
different (p < 0.05). Organic carbon decreased from the range of
41.1e51.3% at day 1 to become in the range of 33.3e46.9% at the end
of the composting period. When compared to the control and the
NaOH treatments, the VS and the C contents in the composts from
the fly ash treatment were found to be significantly lower (p < 0.05)
due to the higher mineral content present in the fly ash treatments.
The percentages of N content in the composts were initially in
the range of 0.77e0.97% at day 1, which then changed to become in
the range of 1.10%, 0.65e0.73%, and 0.53e1.1% at the end of the
composting. Generally, the nitrogen content in the compost in-
creases in accordance with the composting time due to the net loss
in the dry mass resulting from the loss of organic C in the form of
CO2 during composting, as it was observed in the control treatment
4 S. Karnchanawong et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2016) 1e6

Fig. 2. The variations in the compost characteristics over time.

Please cite this article in press as: Karnchanawong, S., et al., Effect of green waste pretreatment by sodium hydroxide and biomass fly ash on
composting process, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.126
 S. Karnchanawong et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2016) 1e6 5

Table 2
Characteristics and size distribution of composts.

Parameter Initial feed- Fly NaOH treatment Ash treatment Control

stock ash
1% 2% 3% 6.2% 12.4% 18.6%

Day End Day End Day End Day End Day End Day End Day End
1 compost 1 compost 1 compost 1 compost 1 compost 1 compost 1 compost

pH 8.76 10.1 9.33 10.1 9.35 10.2 8.13 9.38 8.86 9.51 8.77 9.59 6.70 9.08
EC, dS/m e 0.985 1.87 2.11 2.34 2.74 2.66 0.722 1.17 0.747 1.28 0.84 1.48 0.460 0.668
VS, % e 92.1 84.9 89.7 76.5 82.2 64.9 85.2 74.2 77.8 65.6 72.6 63.9 93.21 89.9
C, % 50.6 45.6 49.4 44.6 48.9 48.5 46.6 39.3 44.6 36.3 41.1 33.3 51.3 46.9
N, % e 0.92 0.73 0.92 0.69 0.94 0.65 0.91 0.85 0.83 0.64 0.77 0.53 0.97 1.10
C/N e 54.9 62.2 53.7 64.5 52.0 65.3 51.1 46.5 54.0 57.2 53.5 62.8 53.2 42.6
Lignocell-ulose, % 62.4 70.4 62.8 66.6 63.4 65.8 61.8 63.9 60.2 67.0 63.7 64.4 61.6 70.2
Lignin, % 26.8 41.0 25.4 35.4 25.5 35.7 26.4 37.7 25.9 34.2 25.0 34.1 25.9 43.6

Size distribution, % Size distribution of initial feed stock, fly ash and end compost
mm

>25 4.3% e 2.0% 1.9% 2.8% 1.4% 1.8% 1.7% 1.5%

12.50e25.00 42.0% e 15.7% 19.6% 23.7% 10.2% 9.5% 8.3% 11.9%
9.25e12.50 10.4% e 10.9% 18.8% 17.1% 16.8% 19.8% 12.4% 15.0%
4.75e9.25 19.5% 3.6% 37.6% 44.2% 38.6% 26.9% 24.9% 27.5% 38.7%
<4.75 23.8% 96.4% 33.9% 15.6% 17.8% 44.7% 43.9% 50.1% 32.9%

in this study. However, the N content in all the alkaline treatments decomposition rate of the feedstock coupled with the addition of
were found to continually decrease. This might be because of the small particle sizes of the fly ash itself. However, the results did not
high pH in all the alkaline treatments, which resulted in ammonia show clearly the relationship between the fly ash amount and the
volatilization from the compost material. A rise in pH increases the increasing of the fine fraction in the end compost.
rate of ammonium conversion to dissolved ammonia, which in-
creases the supply of dissolved ammonia available for volatilization
3.4. Total mass, C, N, lignocellulose, and lignin mass reductions
(Wong et al., 2009).
For the C/N ratio analyses, the C/N ratios observed in the control
The dry mass reductions of the total mass, C, N, lignocellulose,
and the 6.24% fly ash treatments showed the decreasing trends
and lignin are presented in Table 3. The lower total mass reductions
throughout the composting period due to the loss of C. The
of the 2% NaOH and the 3% NaOH treatments and all the three fly
mineralization of the organic carbon coupled with the increase in
ash treatments were investigated. It should be noted that the lower
the nitrogen content resulting from the loss of dry weight led to the
mass reduction percentage in the fly ash treatment might be due to
decrease in the C/N ratios, as reported earlier (Sellami et al., 2008).
the lower organic content in the fly ash added. Upon considering
In contrast, the C/N ratio of the other treatments showed the
the C mass reductions, it can be observed that the control, the 1%
opposite trend. This might be because of the decrease in the ni-
NaOH, and the 6.2% fly ash treatments showed the same order,
trogen content as a result of the volatilization of ammonia in the
whereas lower C mass reductions were observed in the other
high pH condition in the alkaline treatments.
treatments. In the case of the N mass reductions, it was found that
Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin are the main constituents of
the control treatment gave the lowest N loss, followed by the fly ash
lignocellulosic materials. Apart from these primary polymers,
and the NaOH treatments. These results correspond to the higher
plants comprise of other structural polymers (e.g., waxes, proteins,
pH profile (see Fig. 1) of the compost that was pretreated with
etc.). Among these three components, lignin degrades at the
NaOH and fly ash. The high pH of the compost material may have
slowest rate, followed by cellulose and hemicelluloses (Harmsen
led to the higher volatilization of ammonia nitrogen.
et al., 2010). As illustrated in Table 2, the lignocellulose and lignin
Based on the lignin mass reductions demonstrated in Table 3,
contents increased continuously according to the composting time.
the results clearly show that the highest removal was in the
The increasing percentages of the lignocellulose and the lignin
treatment with 2% NaOH, followed by the treatments with 1%
contents might be attributed to the mass lost due to the degrada-
NaOH, 6.2% fly ash, 12.4% fly ash, 3% NaOH, 18.6% fly ash, and the
tion of the easily biodegradable organic compounds and the hardly
control. The lignocellulose mass reductions showed that the con-
biodegradable lignocellulosic compounds.
trol, the 1% NaOH, and the 6.2% fly ash treatments gave the same
reduction performance, whereas lower reduction percentages were
3.3. Particle size analysis for end compost observed in the treatments with higher alkaline content (i.e the

As organic matter is degraded by microorganisms, its particle

size is reduced. The distribution size of the feedstock and the end Table 3
composts are presented in Table 2. More than 56% of the initial Total mass, organic carbon, nitrogen, lignocellulose, and lignin dry mass reductions.
feedstock fraction was found to be greater than 9.25 mm. After Run % Reduction
composting, the fine fraction <9.25 mm became the major portion
Total mass C N Lignocellulose Lignin
of the end composts (56.4e77.6%) in all the treatments. For the
1 Control (C) 44.40 49.18 36.66 36.67 6.46
NaOH treatments, the lower portions of the fine fraction <4.75 mm
2 NaOH 1% 43.50 49.13 55.10 36.30 13.71
were found in the 2% and the 3% NaOH treatments, compared with 3 NaOH 2% 38.24 44.24 53.61 34.44 14.12
the 1% NaOH and the control treatments, which may indicate the 4 NaOH 3% 35.46 43.93 55.32 33.00 9.40
lower decomposition rate in these two treatments. All the fly ash 5 Fly ash 6.2% 39.15 48.71 43.57 37.03 13.08
treatments show the fine fraction<4.75 mm portion greater than 6 Fly ash 12.4% 32.14 44.74 47.78 24.44 10.30
7 Fly ash 18.6% 31.66 44.62 52.76 18.01 6.58
the control treatment. This may be because of the higher

Please cite this article in press as: Karnchanawong, S., et al., Effect of green waste pretreatment by sodium hydroxide and biomass fly ash on
composting process, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.126
6 S. Karnchanawong et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2016) 1e6
NaOH and fly ash treatments). In contrast with lignin degradation,
no effect of the alkaline pretreatment on lignocellulose mass
reduction was observed in the 1% NaOH and the 6.2% fly ash
treatments, compared with the control treatment. This might be
because of the higher lignin content that remained in the ligno-
celluloses of the control treatment.
These results clearly illustrate that alkaline pretreatment using
1e3% NaOH and 6.2e12.4% fly ash can enhance the degradation of
lignin. However, it was not observed that a higher content of alkaline
would result in greater removal of lignocellulose and lignin. This
might be due to high pH condition in higher alkaline content treat-
ments being unfavorable for microorganism activities (Rynk, 1992).
Considering the overall performance regarding alkaline pre-
treatment of green waste, it can be concluded that the 6.2% fly ash
pretreatment should be selected in order to achieve higher
mineralization and lower nitrogen loss. Even though 1% NaOH can
give the similar composting performance, it was found that there
was higher nitrogen loss involved in the pretreatment with 1%
NaOH. In addition, there is the possibility that sodium ions may
limit plant growth and impair agricultural productivity when the
compost is applied to soil (Blumwald et al., 2000).
4. Conclusion
The determination of the effect of alkaline pretreatment using
NaOH and biomass fly ash on Samanea saman green waste com-
posting performance was carried out. The results of the lignin mass
reduction showed that 1e2% NaOH and 6.2% fly ash treatments can
reduce lignin 2 times better than the control. The higher nitrogen
losses were investigated in the alkaline treatments around 18e50%
from the end compost, compared with the control treatment. 6.2%
fly ash is recommended to enhance the decomposition of green
waste while minimizing the nitrogen loss in the composting pro-
cess. The utilization of fly ash from thermal power plants for green
waste pretreatment will be beneficial to reducing the fly ash
amount for disposal.
References
AOAC, 2005. Official Methods of Analysis. Association of Official Analytical Chemist.
AOAC International Suite, Maryland, USA.
APHA, 1997. American Public Health Association Standard Methods for the Exam-
ination of Water and Wastewater. Washington, DC., USA.
Behera, S., Arora, R., Nandhagopal, N., Kumar, S., 2014. Importance of chemical
pretreatment for bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass. Renew. Sustain.
Energy. Rev. 36, 91e106.
Blumwald, E., Aharon, G.S., Apse, M.P., 2000. Sodium transport in plant cells. Bio-
chim. Biophys. Acta 1465, 140e151.
Cai, D., Li, P., Luo, Z., Qin, P., Chen, C., Wang, Y., Wang, Z., Tan, T., 2016. Effect of dilute
alkaline pretreatment on the conversion of different parts of corn stalk to
fermentable sugars and its application in acetone-butanol-ethanol fermenta-
tion. Bioresour. Technol. 211, 117e124.
Cronje , A.L., Turner, C., Williams, A.G., Barker, A.J., Guy, S., 2004. The respiration rate
of composting Pig manure. Compost. Sci. Util. 12 (2), 119e129. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1080/1065657X.1062004.10702170.
Diaz, L.F., Bertoldi, M.d., Bidlingmaier, W., 2007. Compost Science and Technology.
Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Fang, M., Wong, J.W.C., 1999. Effects of lime amendment on availability of heavy
metals and maturation in sewage sludge composting Environ. Pollut 106 (1),
83e89.
Please cite this article in press as: Karnchanawong, S., et al., Effect of green waste pretreatment by sodium hydroxide and biomass fly ash on
composting process, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.126
Gao, K., Rehmann, L., 2014. ABE fermentation from enzymatic hydrolysate of NaOH-
pretreated corncobs. Biomass Bioenerg. 66, 110e115.
pez, L.M.B., Bakker, R.R.C., 2010. Literature Review
Harmsen, P.F.H., Huijgen, W.J.J., Lo
of Physical and Chemical Pretreatment Processes for Lignocellulosic Biomass,
BioSynergy (accessed 13.10.15.), (Wagenegen). ftp.ecn.nl/pub/www/library/
report/2010/e10013.pdf.
Insam, H., Knapp, B.A., 2011. Recycling of Biomass Ashes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
Heidelberg, Germany.
Jala, S., Goyal, D., 2006. Fly ash as a soil ameliorant for improving crop production: a
review. Bioresour. Technol. 97 (9), 1136e1147.
rez, M.F.-D., Go
Jua  mez-Brando  n, M., Insam, H., 2015. Merging two waste streams,
wood ash and biowaste, results in improved composting process and end
products. Sci. Total Environ. 511, 91e100.
Kannan, G.K., Gupta, M., Kapoor, J.C., 2004. Estimation of gaseous products and
particulate matter emission from garden biomass combustion in a simulation
fire test chamber. Atmos. Environ. 38 (3), 6701e6710.
Karnchanawong, S., Najarus, Y., 2014. Effects of composts from Co-Composting of
tree pruning waste, cow dung, and biomass fly ash on soil acidity neutralization
and growth of chinese cabbage. Adv. Mater. Res. 953e954. Trans Tech Publi-
cations, Switzerland, 168-172.
Karnchanawong, S., Sawangpanyangkura, T., Najarus, Y., 2014. Effect of adding
biomass fly ash to co-composting of tree pruning waste and cow dung. Adv.
Mater. Res. 931e932. Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland, 635e639.
Katami, T., Yasuhara, A., Shibamoto, T., 2004. Formation of Dioxins from incineration
of fallen leaf. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 72, 114e118.
Kim, T.H., Taylor, F., Hicks, K.B., 2008. Bioethanol production from barley hull using
SAA (soaking in aqueous ammonia) pretreatment. Bioresoure Technol. 99,
5694e5702.
Koivula, N., Raikkonen, T., Urpilainen, S., Ranta, J., Hanninen, K., 2004. Ash in
composting of source-separated catering waste. Bioresour. Technol. 93 (3),
291e299.
Kop cic, N., Domanovac, M.V., Ku ci
c, D., Briski, F., 2014. Evaluation of laboratory-scale
in-vessel co-composting of tobacco and apple waste. Waste Manage 34,
323e328.
Kurola, J.M., Arnold, M., Kontro, M.H., Talves, M., Romantschuk, M., 2011. Wood ash
for application in municipal biowaste composting. Bioresour. Technol. 102,
5214e5220.
Lim, S.L., Lee, L.H., Wu, T.Y., 2016. Sustainability of using composting and vermi-
composting technologies for organic solid waste biotransformation: recent
overview, greenhouse gases emissions and economic analysis. J. Clean. Prod. A
111, 262e278.
Nair, J., Okamitsu, K., 2010. Microbial inoculants for small scale composting of pu-
trescible kitchen wastes. Waste Manage 30, 977e982.
PCD, 2014. Information of Waste Reduction and Recycle of Municipal Solid Waste.
Thailand, Bangkok (accessed 07.07.2014.). pcd.go.th/info_serv/waste_municip.
html.
Rubin, E., 2008. Genomics of cellulosic biofuels. Nature 454, 841e845.
Rynk, R., 1992. On Farm Composting Handbook. Ithaca. Cooperative Extension
Agricultural Engineering Service, NY, USA.
Saer, A., Lansing, S., Davitt, N.H., Graves, R.E., 2013. Life cycle assessment of a food
waste composting system: environmental impact hotspots. J. Clean. Prod. 52,
234e244.
Sellami, F., Jarboui, R., Hachicha, S., Medhioub, K., Ammar, E., 2008. Co-composting
of oil exhausted olive-cake, poultry manure and industrial residues of agro-food
activity for soil amendment. Bioresour. Technol. 99, 1178e1188.
Sun, K., Zhang, J., Chen, Y., Liao, Z., Lin, R., 2011. Accelerating the degradation of
green plant waste with chemical decomposition agents. J. Environ. Manage 92
(10), 2708e2713.
USEPA, 2016. Methane Emissions (accessed 15.03.16.). www3.epa.gov/
climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/ch4.html.
Walkley, A., Black, I.A., 1934. An examination of the Degtjareff method for deter-
mining organic carbon in soils: effect of variations in digestion conditions and
of inorganic soil constituents. Soil Sci. 63, 251e263.
Wevers, M., Fre, R.D., Desmedt, M., 2004. Effect of backyard burning on dioxin
deposition and air concentrations. Chemosphere 54, 1351e1356.
Wong, J.W.C., Fung, S.O., Selvam, A., 2009. Coal fly ash and lime addition enhances
the rate and efficiency of decomposition of food waste during composting.
Bioresoure Technol. 100, 3324e3331.
Zhang, X., Liu, Y., 2005. Advance of lignocelluloses pretreatment technology.
J. Cellul. Sci. Technol. 13 (2), 54e58.