Quality Evaluation of Composted Urban Solid Wastes Materials Produced in Tehran Arad-Kouh Factory Using Parameters of CIELAB Color Standard during Production Process

CIE color standard system has been extensively used to determine various physic-chemical characteristics of porous media such as soil. Objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship of C/N ratio and organic matter percentage with parameters of CIELAB color standard system during composting production process.

In this study, changes on parameters of CIELAB color standard alongside with organic matter percentages and values of C/N ratio were measured for 90 days during urban solid wastes materials’ composting process in Arad-Kouh factory in Tehran.

The results showed that there are significant relationships of L* with organic matter (r=0.942, α=0.01) and ratio of C/N (r=0.915, α=0.01) from one hand and parameter of a*/b* with organic matter (r=-0.876, α=0.01) and ratio of C/N (r=-0.893, α=0.01) from other hand.

Statistical interpretation of the obtained results approved that instead of common analytical methods for quality evaluation of composted materials; parameters of L* and a*/b* are easy, inexpensive and quick to estimate ratio of C/N and organic matter percentage of composted urban solid wastes materials reliably.