ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Biodegradation of imidacloprid by composting process

Željko Herner, Dajana Kučić, and Bruno Zelić

Ministry of Agriculture, Zagreb, Croatia

E-mail: dkucic@fkit.hr

Abstract: This work presents the biodegradation of imidacloprid during composting process in a closed reactor. Composting mass was prepared from fresh vegetable waste, tobacco waste, dry leaves, imidacloprid 1.25 mg/kg (dry solids) and bacterial suspension of Pseudomonas aeruginosa FN. The composting process was carried out under forced aeration (0.516 dm³/min/kg) in a column reactor (10 dm³) under adiabatic conditions over 21 days. In a closed reactor system, the intense biodegradation of imidacloprid was during first 7 days when 68% of imidacloprid was degraded. The conversion and rate of biodegradation of imidacloprid in a closed reactor was much higher and faster than in an open pile. Imidacloprid degradation during composting process was described and simulated as first-order process. Degradation constant and half-life of imidacloprid were estimated in a closed reactor (k_d = 0.135 ± 0.016 mg/kg/day, t_1/2 = 5.13 days) and in an open pile (k_d = 0.025 ± 0.002 mg/kg/day, t_1/2 = 27.88 days).

Keywords: Composting process; Imidacloprid; Pseudomonas aeruginosa FN; Kinetics of biodegradation

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-016-0031-5

Chemical Papers 71 (1) 13–20 (2017)