International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 6, Issue 5, May 2016 35 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org Effect of pH and moisture content on composting of Municipal solid waste Ayesha Ameen 1 , Jalil Ahmad 2 and Shahid Raza 1 1 University of South Asia, Lahore Pakistan 2 Lahore Compost Pvt Ltd, Punjab, Pakistan Abstract- pH and moisture content are important parameters to evaluate maturity of compost prepared by using different type of organic waste. This study was designed to check the effect of pH and moisture content at start and end of composting process. It was concluded from this study that the pH of the compost remained alkaline throughout composting process. The moisture percentage was decreased from 50% with the increase in interval of time. The results showed that the compost is mature enough to be used as bio fertilizer. Index Terms- MSW, pH, Moisture %, BST I. INTRODUCTION omposting is increasingly used method to treat any type of organic waste. The pH of municipal solid waste is alkaline and its range from 7- 8 (Lorena et al., 2013). This type of waste is without any glass and inert material. The alkalinity in the pH of MSW is because of the presence of very less amount of short chain organic acids mainly lactic acid and acetic acid. The high concentration of these short chain organic acids increase the acidity of pH. The absence of these organic acids in alkaline conditions and presence in acidic conditions shows that they are important factors in the regulation of compost pH. The change of mesophilic to thermophilic conditions of a compost pile results in the more alkalinity of pH. (Sundberg et al., 2004). The microbes show maximum degradation in the pH range of 7 to 8 (Nakasaki et al., 2011). The rate of organic waste decomposition is slow at low pH conditions ( Sundberg et al., 2013). The moisture content at the initial stage of composting process is optimized and its value should not increase from 50- 60%. Moisture is important for the activity of microbes because it increases the rate of metabolism. The activity of microbes is minimum when low moisture is provided (Tiquia et al., 1996). The reduction in the value of moisture content at the end of composting is a positive sign of decomposition and it gives mature compost (Epstein et al., 1995). II. MATERIAL AND METHODS The experiment was conducted in Lahore compost Pvt Ltd. The three windrows of 650 tons were prepared. The composition of organic waste in control windrow included cow dung, municipal solid waste and green waste. The composition of one experimental windrow with 650 ton weight included cow dung, green waste, municipal waste and press mud. The composition of second experimental windrow included cow dung, green waste, municipal solid waste and humic acid. The commercial BST inoculum was added in all three windrows to speed up the process. Table 1 shows the composition of each windrow. Table 1 Sr.No. Windrows Composition Total Weight (MT) Inoculum 1 Control C.D+G.W+MSW 650tons BST 2 Press Mud C.D+G.W+MSW+P.M 650tons BST 3 Humic Acid C.D+G.W+MSW+H.A 650tons BST C