PRESENTATION

Composting Can Be Done in Many, but Not Always Satisfying Ways:
The Updated Austrian State of the Art May Help to Avoid a Reinvention of the Wheel.

Kompostovať môžeme rôznymi spôsobmi, aj keď nie vždy rovnako výhodné:
Ako pomocou najnovších a aktualizovaných rakúskych techník a postupov znova neobjavovať Ameriku.

KEY WORDS

State of the Art, regulations, Compost Ordinance

ANNOTATION

The Austrian State of the Art of Composting provides that basis which explains the measures and procedure to achieve the legal basis of the Compost Ordinance.

In Austria, a composting plant must therefore comply with the state of the art and also work in such a way in order to achieve low-emission process control and high compost quality. Technical and operational requirements for compliance with the legal and biological minimum requirements are considered. In which points this is consistently meaningful, and which points of the state of the art need re-sharpening or revision is explained by Ing. DI Bernhard Gamerith in the lecture.

The Austrian compost regulation was not amended for 20 years and is in revision since some time, at the moment in the last examination of the ministry. If this comes into force by October 2023, it will also be part of the presentation. If this is not the case, suggestions for amendments will be discussed. With the amendment of the Compost Ordinance, the state of the art of composting will also be revised.

The renewed State of the Art of Composting will be part of the presentation. Finally, due to the legal basis, the circle to a meaningful plant monitoring is closed.

LECTURER’S PROFILE

Ing. Dipl. Ing. Bernhard Gamerith, CTO of Compost Systems – based in Wels, Upper Austria, is already working in the field of waste management, especially composting, for more than 15 years.

After his degree in the Master programme Civil Engineering and Water Management at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna he worked for 2 years on a 25.000 t/y composting plant and started parallel since that time design and realisation of over 150 composting and MBT plants all over the world, from Europe via Africa to Asia (India), South America (Colombia) and Australia with an input from 1 t/d to 1,000 t/day and different kind of organic input material like agricultural waste (palm oil industry, manure, …), source segregated waste and MSW.

Moreover, he is contributing his expertise in different organisations, like in a working group for the Austrian compost regulation, the Austrian Standards Institute or the Austrian Water and Waste Management Association.

ORGANIZATION’S PROFILE

Compost Systems is an engineering company, registered as consulting engineers in the Chamber of Commerce. Specialized in the field of Waste management, the company designing biological treatment facilities for clients around the world in various different field of Activity such as agriculture, industry, service suppliers, municipalities or works in relation with general contractors as the design and technology providing organization in a larger scope.

Compost Systems is specialized in all sorts of plant design that involves a biological treatment process such as, but not limited to: composting, biological stabilization, bio-drying, leachate evaporation, odour reduction with Biofilter technology or anaerobic digestion. Compost Systems hereby supplies the design of the plant in technological measures, but also supplies key equipment, that is not needed for the execution of the plant, but not readily available in the industry, such as computer control systems, aeration systems or Biofilter systems. Compost Systems takes the responsibility of also commissioning the plant in technological terms, the training of the operational staff, supports the team in the ramp up phase until the required performance parameters are fulfilled. Compost Systems stays available on call or under a service contract for ongoing plant operation for trouble shooting, plant performance optimization, monitoring and also change of scope programs, when material streams or product targets are changed. More than 150 Reference plants built worldwide for biological treatment of various waste streams.

Maximum plant size > 300.000 t/year municipal solid waste. Compost Systems further provided specialized composting equipment to thousands of clients around the world as a pure equipment provider of composting or waste management tools.