Wojciech Czekała

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.

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 use of image analysis to investigate C:N ratio in the mixture of chicken manure and straw

The aim of the study was to determine the possibility of analysis of C:N ratio in the chicken manure and wheat straw mixture. This paper presents preliminary assumptions and parameters of extraction characteristics process. It also presents an introduction of digital image analysis of chicken manure and wheat straw mixture. This work is an introduction to the study on develop computer system that could replace chemical analysis. Good understanding the value of dependence C:N on the basis of image analysis will help in selection of optimal conditions for biological waste treatment.

Specialised Internet Tool for Biogas Plant Modelling and Marked Analysing

The paper presents the internet tool for decision support and data acquisition for Polish biogas market. This system helps investors to plan the size and potential power of biogas plant with usage of selected, own substrates. Because of open access via internet, the BiogasWebPlanner® allows to create one of the biggest databases about future Polish biogas market.

Computer image analysis in caryopses quality evaluation as exemplified by malting barley

One of the purposes to employ modern technologies in agricultural and food industry is to increase the efficiency and automation of production processes, which helps improve productive effectiveness of business enterprises, thus making them more competitive. Nowadays, a challenge presents itself for this branch of economy, to produce agricultural and food products characterized by the best parameters in terms of quality, while maintaining optimum production and distribution costs of the processed biological material. Thus, several scientific centers seek to devise new and improved methods and technologies in this field, which will allow to meet the expectations. A new solution, under constant development, is to employ the so-called machine vision which is to replace human work in both quality and quantity evaluation processes. An indisputable advantage of employing the method is keeping the evaluation unbiased while improving its rate and, what is important, eliminating the fatigue factor of the expert. This paper elaborates on the topic of quality evaluation by marking the contamination in malting barley grains using computer image analysis and selected methods of artificial intelligence [4-5].

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.

The Influence of Admixtures Accelerating the Pine Bark Composting Process on Variation in the Bacteriological State of Composts

Abstract The focus of the study was on the dynamics of the variation in the population of copiotrophic and oligotrophic bacteria and actinobacteria as well as the level of acid and alkaline phosphatase activities taking place during pine bark composting, depending on the application of different organic admixtures and the Effective Microorganisms microbiological preparation as well as variation in pH values and temperature. Above all, the trend in the variation in the population of microorganisms under analysis and enzymatic activity depended on the type of admixture applied to the composted pine bark. Apart from that, the course of microbiological activity was also influenced by temperature variation, which resulted from the course of the composting process. The results obtained in the experiment proved that the admixture of PGM (plant green matter) to the composted prisms had stimulating influence on the microbiological indexes under analysis.

The Control of Air Humidity and Temperature in Relationship with a Biowaste Composting Process

Biowaste composting is one of the main technologies of waste management in Poland. Composting process run is influenced by many parameters which can accelerate or slow down the phenomena. However, there is no information about the influence of humidity of the air pumped to composted mass on process run. Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of air humidity on parameters of composting process. The results have showed that there is no significant influence of the air humidity on a dynamics of composting process. Even in case when the difference in air humidity exceeded 60%, the temperature remained similar. The research proved utility of new kind of temperature sensors. Temperature analysis in the whole volume of composting chamber allows to control composting process in much more effective way.

Image acquisitions, processing and analysis in the process of obtaining characteristics of horse navicular bone

The aim of this study was investigate the possibility of using methods of computer image analysis for the assessment and classification of morphological variability and the state of health of horse navicular bone. Assumption was that the classification based on information contained in the graphical form two-dimensional digital images of navicular bone and information of horse health. The first step in the research was define the classes of analyzed bones, and then using methods of computer image analysis for obtaining characteristics from these images. This characteristics were correlated with data concerning the animal, such as: side of hooves, number of navicular syndrome (scale 0-3), type, sex, age, weight, information about lace, information about heel. This paper shows the introduction to the study of use the neural image analysis in the diagnosis of navicular bone syndrome. Prepared method can provide an introduction to the study of non-invasive way to assess the condition of the horse navicular bone.