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Waste Management

Relevance of Organic Matter Fractions as Predictors of Wastewater Sludge Mineralization in Soil

^a INRA, Unité d'Agronomie de Laon-Reims-Mons, 2 esplanade R. Garros, BP 224, 51686 Reims cedex 2, France
^b ENSAR, Laboratoire de Mathématiques Appliquées, 65 rue de St Brieuc, CS 84215, 35042 Rennes cedex, France

^* Corresponding author (Virginie.Parnaudeau{at}reims.inra.fr).

Received for publication November 26, 2003. Seventeen different wastewater sludges were characterized using both chemical and organic matter fractionation methods (water extraction, Van Soest method, and acid hydrolysis) and 6-mo incubation studies to assess their decomposition in soil. Simple correlation and multiple factor analysis (MFA) were then performed to establish relationships between composition and C and N mineralization of sludges. Carbon and N concentrations covered a wide range of values, but organic carbon (C_o) to organic nitrogen (N_o) ratios were relatively low (from 5 to 19). Carbon and N were mainly distributed in the most soluble fractions of the Van Soest method and in the water-insoluble fraction at 100°C. Carbon mineralization varied from 180 to 661 g C kg^–1 organic C added during the 168-d incubation. The addition of sludges led to different inorganic N dynamics: from –3.3 to +120.0 g N kg^–1 sludge organic C mineralized after the 168-d incubation. Fractionation studies showed that the most discriminating method was acid hydrolysis. Carbon mineralization was linked with the proportion of sludge N and C present in the lignin-like fraction (r = –0.68 and –0.65, respectively). Significant relationships were established between N mineralization and N_o to C_o ratio (0.88 < r < 0.95) and the C_o to N_o ratio of sludges, the C to N ratio of the soluble fraction obtained by the Van Soest method, the water-soluble fraction at 100°C, and the C and N present in the acid-hydrolyzable fraction. Finally, multiple factor analysis also enabled establishing a sludge typology using five clusters based on composition and mineralization characteristics.

Abbreviations: C_o, organic carbon • MFA, multiple factor analysis • N_o, organic nitrogen

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This Issue in Journal of Environmental Quality

JEQ 2004 33: 1589-1599. [Full Text]