1. Recovery of electrical energy from
organic waste composting
(ENERGYCOMPO)
Germán Tortosa Muñoz
Dpto. Soil and Plant Micrpbiology
Estación Experimental del Zaidín (EEZ-CSIC)
http://www.compostandociencia.com
Email: german.tortosa@eez.csic.es
compostandociencia@gmail.com
@germantortosa
Granada, 20 of december 2022
3ªrd edition of CAOS projects

2. ¿What about EEZ-CSIC?
https://youtu.be/MVO-SRbfDug

7. Our project:
Recovery of electrical energy from organic waste composting
(ENERGYCOMPO)

8. Our project:
Recovery of electrical energy from organic waste composting
(ENERGYCOMPO)

9. Nuestro proyecto:
Mejora de la germinación y del cultivo en vivero de retama con
compost (RETACOMPO)

10. Our project:
Recovery of electrical energy from organic waste composting
(ENERGYCOMPO)

11. Our project:
Recovery of electrical energy from organic waste composting
(ENERGYCOMPO)
Plant-microbial fuel cell

13. Objective
- Create an experimental device able to grow plants and to produces
electricity
- Evaluate if compost can improve electrical energy generation with
plants
Working plan
Prepare composting bottles
Experiment 1. Study of composting process: mass, height and
temperature (1 month)
Experiment 2. CO2 emissions (every 15 days)
Experiment 3. Bacterial diversity in composting (EEZ)
Experiment 4. Electricity production (every week)
Experiment 5. Effectiveness of compost as organic (after 2 months)

14. Soil Leaves Food waste

15. Soil Leaves Food waste

16. Soil Leaves Food waste

18. Experiment 2
pH evolution
1. To be done every 15 days during composting
experiment.
2. Add 5 g of compost mixture in a 100 mL tube.
3. Add 50 mL of tap water.
4. Mix the tube vigorously during 1 min.
5. Wait 5 min for gravity sedimentation of the
slurry.
6. Transfer the supernatant carefully to a new
tube.
7. Measure the pH with the pH meter.
07

19. Experiment 3
Bacterial diversity in composting mixture.
1. Add 1 g of composting mixture 50 mL sterile tube.
2. Add 5 mL of saline solution and mixed vigorously
3. Wait 10 min until gravity sedimentation of the slurry.
4. Add one drop into Petri dishes containing a general
growing solid media for bacteria (TSA medium).
5. Add 2 mm-glass beads to Petri dishes and shake it.
6. Remove glass balls and incubate at room
temperature during 24-48 h.
7. After that, count the number of colonies among
treatments and compare them.
07

20. Experiment 4
Effectiveness of compost as organic fertilizer.
1. Plant 5 seeds of any horticultural plant inside Part B
of each composting bottle. Introduce them at 2-3 cm
of the upper layer.
2. Add 200-300 mL of tap water.
3. Place the composting bottles inside a room to avoid
temperature changes. Direct solar light is strongly
recommended.
4. Similar to a pot, plants will be grown during 3-4
weeks.
5. At the end of the experiment, plant height and
weight will be measured.
07

21. 07 Explanation
The generation of organic waste is directly related to human activity and as a
consequence, these residues are increasing. Bio-waste is an example of such organic
waste, which includes garden and park cuttings and food and kitchen wastes from
households and catering establishments, among others.
Composting is a feasible methodology for the bio-waste management. It is defined
as a controlled bioxidative process, in which the organic waste is transformed by the
own microorganisms of the raw waste.The bioxidative process is the most active
stage, where an important organic matter degradation, CO2 emissions and microbial
activity take place.
Composting bio-waste is a feasible strategy to both reduce the environmental
impact of bio-waste generation and to produce high-quality organic amendments
which can be used for increasing the organic matter within soils.

22. 07
Possible questions
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23. 08 Further
information
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25. How do we do?
Session number:
- Research: 6 sessions (every two week´s Tuesday):
- 17 and 31, January 2023
- 14 and 28, February 2023
- 14 and 28, March 2023
- Results and Discussion (after Easter season): 1 session
- 18, April 2023
Dissemination:
Website of the project:
http://www.compostandociencia.com/proyecto-caos-iii-recovery-of-electrical-energy-
from-compost-energycompo-2022-23/

26. How do we do?
Schedule:
• December, 2022: Initial session and Project presentation.
• January-March, 2023: Research.
• March-April, 2023: End of research. Results and discussion. Conclusions.
• April-May, 2023: CAOS III congress.
• May, 2023: Writing the scientific article.
• June-July, 2023: Science outreach of our research

27. ¿Cómo operamos?
Desarrollo del proyecto:
• Noviembre de 2022: Presentación del proyecto a los alumnos.
• Diciembre de 2022: Inicio del Experimento 1 y 2.
• Diciembre de 2022-febrero de 2023: Desarrollo de la investigación y
sesiones de seguimiento de los experimentos 1 y 2.
• Marzo de 2023: Finalización parte experimental y presentación de los
resultados. Discusión y elaboración del trabajo.
• Abril-mayo de 2023: Presentación en congreso de los proyectos CAOS III.
• Mayo de 2023: Escritura del trabajo científico.
• Junio-Julio de 2023: Elaboración de material divulgativo del proyecto

28. ¿Cómo operamos?
Desarrollo del proyecto:
• Noviembre de 2022: Presentación del proyecto a los alumnos.
• Diciembre de 2022: Inicio del Experimento 1 y 2.
• Diciembre de 2022-febrero de 2023: Desarrollo de la investigación y
sesiones de seguimiento de los experimentos 1 y 2.
• Marzo de 2023: Finalización parte experimental y presentación de los
resultados. Discusión y elaboración del trabajo.
• Abril-mayo de 2023: Presentación en congreso de los proyectos CAOS III.
• Mayo de 2023: Escritura del trabajo científico.
• Junio-Julio de 2023: Elaboración de material divulgativo del proyecto

29. https://youtu.be/R3W9GA7GJQI
https://youtu.be/SOA78fI11Dc

30. https://youtu.be/W21Z_iUxCmU
https://youtu.be/Yuo_WiJZCPQ

31. Let´s compost!
http://www.compostandociencia.com/proyecto-caos-iii-recovery-
of-electrical-energy-from-compost-energycompo-2022-23/