Damian Janczak

Co-composting of poultry manure mixtures amended with biochar – The effect of biochar on temperature and C-CO2 emission

Biochar as an amendment could have an impact on composting dynamics. This study investigated the effect of the addition of biochar (B) to poultry manure (P) mixed with wheat straw (S) (i.e. P:S, P:S+5%B and P:S+10%B) on temperature and carbon dioxide emission. For temperature studies a modified equation for net degree-hour parameter DHnet (°Chday(-1)) was proposed. The modified equation takes into account ambient temperature. The highest daily temperatures DHnet were observed on day 2 and the mixture with the highest addition of biochar (P:S+10%) reached the max temperature. The period of thermophilic temperatures (40°C>) was shorter for mixtures amended with biochar. The addition of biochar increased C-CO2 emission and the total C-CO2 emission were higher about 6.9% and 7.4% for P:S+5%B and P:S+10%B, respectively.

The selected examples of the application of computer image analysis in the assessment of environmental quality

The environmental monitoring (EM) is an essential part of protection of the environment, most of the methods of environmental protection based on visual techniques or physico-chemical and biochemical measurements. The automation of traditional methods proceeds at an accelerating rate, modern laboratories prefer this type of tools to conduct a more comprehensive assessment and online monitoring. The application of computer image analysis methods in biomonitoring brings to this discipline the opportunity to develop innovative tools that allow for more precise sensitive and quantified assessment of monitored processes. The application of techniques based on computer image processing technology will dominate in the future and very comfortable and intuitive tool for researchers in the study of the components of the environment quality. The article presents some methods of automation the acute toxicity bioassay based on the application of computational methods.

Computer image analysis in the quality in procedure for selected carrot varieties

In our daily lives we often assess our surroundings to classify the situations we encounter. We do so based on the observations we make of our surroundings and information we obtain from other sources, using our knowledge and abilities. While this process is natural to us, if we want to give a similar task to a computer system then we have to take various steps in order to enable our computers to partially emulate the human capacity for observation, learning and making final decisions based on knowledge. As information complexity increases, there is an increasing demand for systems which can recognize and classify the objects presented to them. Recently there has been an increase in interest in application of computer image analysis in various research areas. One of these applications is food quality assessment, which aims to replace traditional instrumental methods. A computer visual system was developed to assess carrot quality, based on a single variety. Characteristic qualities of the variety were chosen to describe a suitable root. In the course of the study, digital photographs of carrot roots were taken, which were used as input data for the assessment performed by a dedicated computer program created as a part of the study.

Biochar to reduce ammonia emissions in gaseous and liquid phase during composting of poultry manure with wheat straw

Composting of poultry manure which is high in N and dense in structure can cause several problems including significant N losses in the form of NH3 through volatilization. Biochar due to its recalcitrance and sorption properties can be used in composting as a bulking agent and/or amendment. The addition of a bulking agent to high moisture raw materials can assure optimal moisture content and enough air-filled porosity but not necessarily the C/N ratio. Therefore, amendment of low C/N composting mixtures with biochar at low rates can have a positive effect on composting dynamics. This work aimed at evaluating the effect of selected doses of wood derived biochar amendment (0%, 5% and 10%, wet weight) to poultry manure (P) mixed with wheat straw (S) (in the ratio of 1:0.4 on wet weight) on the total ammonia emissions (including gaseous emissions of ammonia and liquid emissions of ammonium in the collected condensate and leachate) during composting. The process was performed in 165L laboratory scale composting reactors for 42days. The addition of 5% and 10% of biochar reduced gaseous ammonia emission by 30% and 44%, respectively. According to the obtained results, the measure of emission through the condensate would be necessary to assess the impact of the total ammonia emission during the composting process.

The recognition of potato varieties using of neural image analysis method

The aim of this paper was to extract the representative features and generate an appropriate neural model for classification of varieties of edible potato. Potatoes of variety the Vineta and the Denar were the empirical object of this thesis. The main concept of the project was to develop and prepare an image database using the computer image analysis software. The choice of appropriate neural model the one which will have the greatest abilities to identify the selected variety. The aim of this project is ultimately to conduct assistance and accelerate work of the expert, who classifies and keeps different varieties of potatoes in heaps.

Influence of maize straw content with sewage sludge on composting process

Abstract After entrance to EU in 2004, the management of sewage sludge has become more and more important problem for the new members. In Poland, one of the most promising technologies is composting process of sewage sludge with carbonaceous materials. However, the high price of typically used cereal straw forces the specialists to look for new and cheap materials used as donor of carbon and substrates creating good, porous structure of composted heap. This work presents the results of sewage sludge composting mixed with sawdust and maize straw used to create structure favorable for air exchange. The results show dynamic thermophilic phase of composting process in all cases where maize straw was used.

The effect of temperature on the methane yield of the slurry contaminated with heavy metals

The intensive livestock production is responsible for a number of environmental threats. The main source of animal waste is generated in the form of slurry. The inadequate fertilizing (against the BAT rules) can often lead to contamination of soil and water. In turn, the presence of heavy metals found in factory farms by the use of animal feed supplements, prevents its use as a fertilizer. Therefore, other possibilities to recycle the waste are being studied. The aim of the research was to analyze the effect of heavy metal ions on the methane fermentation process yield in contaminated slurry. The manure studied came from dairy cattle farm in Greater Poland region. The tested substrate has been contaminated by heavy metal salts. In the experiment, the following salts have been used ZnO4·7H20, CdCl2·2,5H2O, CuSO4·5H2O, Pb(NO3)2. Anaerobic biodegradation of the fertilizer has been carried out in thermophilic conditions, which enables to indicate the effect of temperature on the efficiency of the occurring process. Furthermore, by comparing mesophilic and thermophilic fermentation, one can notice a higher methane yield from the contaminated slurry during the fermentation at lower temperatures.

Energetic Usage of Slaughter Waste as the Substrate for Biogas Production

Sector of animal production is growing strongly in Poland within last years. This concerns especially poultry sector (first position in Europe with more than 900 million animals per year) bit also swine and cattle. This sector generates dynamic growth of meat export. However, this sector is responsible also for large scale production of slaughter waste which very often creates problem with its proper management and recycling. This paper describes the possibility of the energetic usage of slaughter waste as the substrate for biogas production. The biogas efficiency analysis of different waste like: waste category II, blood, feathers, soft waste category III and solid waste category III have shown its good usefulness for methane production. The calculations showed the energetic potential for analyzed slaughter house as 700 kWe.

Different methods of image segmentation in the process of meat marbling evaluation

The level of marbling in meat assessment based on digital images is very popular, as computer vision tools are becoming more and more advanced. However considering muscle cross sections as the data source for marbling level evaluation, there are still a few problems to cope with. There is a need for an accurate method which would facilitate this evaluation procedure and increase its accuracy. The presented research was conducted in order to compare the effect of different image segmentation tools considering their usefulness in meat marbling evaluation on the muscle anatomical cross – sections. However this study is considered to be an initial trial in the presented field of research and an introduction to ultrasonic images processing and analysis.

Problemy zasad klasyfikacji odpadów organicznych

Poland’s accession to the European Union required the adjustment of the Polish national law to the strict legislation of the EU. One of the most important areas of environmental protection, significantly changed, was waste management. The basic legal act related to waste management is the Waste Management Act of 14 December 2012 (Journal of Laws 2013, item 21). The regulation of the Minister of Environment of 27 September 2001 on waste catalogue corresponding with the Waste Management Act allows to divide waste into 20 groups according to the source of origin. This paper discusses problems concerning organic waste classification, taking into account two above mentioned legal documents.