Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions during Thermophilic Composting to
Evaluate the Climate Mitigation Potential of Ecological Sanitation
(EcoSan) Systems
Abstract
Thermophilic composting within ecological-based sanitation systems
(EcoSan) facilitates a biogeochemical transformation of pathogenic solid
materials into a sanitary organic soil amendment. Recent work suggests
that, in addition to recycling nutrients and eliminating pathogens,
thermophilic composting during EcoSan can lower greenhouse gas emission
compared to other waste treatment practices, however empirical
observations of gas fluxes are few. Data are particularly lacking from
urban areas in the global south where innovation in sanitary
infrastructure is a sustainable development priority. We quantified
greenhouse gas emissions with intensive chamber-based flux sampling over
three cycles of thermophilic composting at an established EcoSan
operation serving an urban community in northern Haiti. We asked: (1)
How do dynamics of greenhouse gases vary throughout the lifetime of the
compost pile and the different operational stages? (2) What fraction of
initial carbon and nitrogen content is lost via gas fluxes and how does
this compare to internationally defined emissions factors? (3) How can
different pile management options further mitigate emissions? We found
methane emissions were highest in the thermophilic stage, ranging from
5-20 µmol m-2 s-1, and dominated the global warming potential of the
entire operation. Approximately 0.1-0.5% of initial pile carbon was
emitted as methane while only 0.05-0.3% of initial pile nitrogen was
emitted as nitrous oxide, both at the low end of IPCC emissions factor
ranges for manure composting. In paired-pile experiments, we found that
improved pile drainage could further mitigate methane emissions, as
could use of a thinner layer of cover material. This study provides some
of the first detailed observations of greenhouse gas dynamics during the
thermophilic composting of human waste and our results suggest that
climate mitigation potential associated with composting-based EcoSan is
greater than previously thought.