Analytical methods for assessing the quality of sugarcane bagasse compost and improving the physicomechanical properties toward densification

Analytical methods for assessing the quality of sugarcane bagasse compost and improving the physicomechanical properties toward densification. demonstrated by XRD analysis, so that with increasing the crystallinity index (from 62 up to 75), the crystalline regions of cellulose in SBCs remained unchanged, but the amorphous regions, which includes hemicellulose and lignin, was slightly decomposed. Changes in functional groups from FT-IR spectra demonstrated that the microbial-biological degradation of lipids and carbohydrates, as well as dissociation of lignin and polyphenols occurred in SBCs. From the DSC thermal curves, a glass transition temperature of 89.7 °C was obtained for SBCs, which due to the peak intensity at this point, the improved maturation and humification of SBCs are guaranteed. For both responses of specific energy consumption and bulk density of SBCs, a two-factor interaction (2FI) model with the highest correlation coefficient and the lowest standard deviation was proposed. The mesh opening size had the greatest effect among the parameters on the specific energy consumption and the bulk density. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the use of comprehensive analytical analyses for an accurate and comparative study between the final composted biomasses and the raw materials in terms of stability and maturity indicators, is practical and reliable. Optimization results from D-optimal design showed that under optimum conditions of moisture content of 8 %w.b, 1-mm mesh opening size and rotational speed 1400 rpm of hammer-attrition mill, a minimum amount of SEC (141.38 KJ/Kg), and the maximum amount of bulk density (209.62 kg/m 3 ) were introduced as optimum responses with the desirability function of 0.88.