The use of concentrated monosodium glutamate wastewater as a conditioning agent for adjusting acidity and minimizing ammonia volatilization in livestock manure composting

Abstract In this study, concentrated monosodium glutamatewaste (CMGW) was proposed as a conditioning agent to adjust acidity and decrease ammonia (NH 3 ) volatilization in thermophilicaerobic compostingbased on two incubation experiments. The results showed that with the addition of CMGW, NH 3 volatilization of compostmixture under high temperature phase decreased significantly and pH met the current national standard within 5.5–8.5. When CMGW dosage increased to 2% (v/w), the decrease in NH 3 volatilization was as high as 78.9%. This effect was enhanced by repeated application of CMGW. Furthermore, although the electrical conductivity increased with the application of CMGW, both the germination index and the microbial respiration of compostmixture implied that CMGW had no negative effects on the maturity of compost, instead, a comprehensive maturity might be accelerated. It was concluded that CMGW was an optional conditioning agent for thermophilicaerobic compostingof livestock manure in regards to adjusting acidity and preventing nitrogen loss from NH 3 volatilization.