Materials Balance of Municipal Solid Waste Composting System using Recovery Factor Transfer Function (RFTF): A case study from Babol Composting Facility

Effectiveness of the separate collection system is the most important thing in the production of high-quality compost. The present work aims to analyzed the mass balance of two separating machine components used in Babol composting facility (with capacity of 100 ton/day and 250 ton/day) based on recovery factor transfer function (RFTF) model to evaluate their efficiency. After sampling from the input and output of the processing line machines and quantitative and qualitative analysis of the waste, material balance was modeled based on RFTF. Calculations were performed for compost processing lines and a standard material balance diagram was prepared for both separation systems. Results showed that the new processing line of the Babol composting facility (with a capacity of 250 ton/day) has a more favorable performance compared to the old processing line (with a capacity of 100 ton/day). The new line reduced the amount of rejecting waste (refuse compost) by 19.84% compared to the old processing line. Also, by using this processing line, the amount of separated organic waste which will be later used in the fermentation and aeration phase of compost production was increased by 19.39%. In addition, the ratio of extracted materials with economic value was increased by 0.45%.