FR2913014A1 - Apparatus for treating kitchen or assimilated organic waste by vermicompost, comprises containers to receive the organic material and to form a treatment chain in loop, where containers comprise a cover, a perforated base and bags - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus for treating kitchen or assimilated organic waste by vermicompost, comprises containers to receive the organic material and to form a treatment chain in loop. Each container comprises a cover (1) with air hole, a perforated base for liquid flow, bags (3, 4) for liquid collection, and perforated vertical walls to move the container towards the treatment chain. The collection bag is adapted to retain the liquid for evacuation, and communicates with all the containers. The perforated vertical walls are adjacent and opposed for lengthening the treatment chain. Independent claims are included for: a process for the treatment of organic wastes by vermicompost; and a process for lifting the Dendrodrilus rubidus worm.

Description

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for

  treatment of organic waste and more particularly, but not exhaustively, for the treatment of organic kitchen waste and the like.

  The present invention also relates to a method and apparatus for breeding worms.

  The technical field of the invention is the field of the processing of kitchen waste and similar in a useful and fertile material, the vermicompost, using the known capabilities of vermiculture and those in particular of a worm, Dindrodrilus rubidus.

  The vermicomposting of organic matter is the action of the worms which accelerates the composting process, the matter digested by worms giving a high quality organic amendment called vermicompost. This treatment by open-air fermentation of organic waste associated with the action of worms is known and has given rise for many years to large-scale applications. The more recent problem of the treatment of domestic organic waste on site (mainly the composting by individuals, at home, vegetable garden waste mixed with kitchen waste) has given rise to a certain number of methods and apparatus using the vermicomposting technique. outdoors (at the bottom of the garden).

  In the more specific case of the treatment of kitchen waste alone, ie not associated with other organic materials facilitating the action of worms, there is at present a method and apparatus for this purpose, described by the patents WO9419296 published on 01/09/1994 and WO9805606 published on 12/02/1998 of which the inventor is the Australian Nigel NATTRASS. It should be noted that these patents are now lost.

  This invention is marketed under the name CAN-O-WORMSTM (COW for Insiders).

  The CO'W is composed of 4 stacked trays. The lower tray, level 1, is called the liquid collection tray. It is used to recover the drained liquid through the upper trays. To start, the worms are placed in the first work tray, level 2, in a litter box. The waste is added as and when filling the tray, then until the filling of the second work plate, level 3 and finally until the filling of the third work plate, level 4. Little by little, the worms go up to the top trays through the perforations at the bottom of each worktable, transforming the organic matter into vermicompost. When all the trays are stacked and filled, the contents of the lower work tray, level 2, can be removed. The system of rotation of the trays can then begin, this tray emptied of its contents being arranged on the top and thus becoming the new level 4. Motivated by the composting of my kitchen waste and seduced by the principle of the apparatus, I so I bought a COW and I tested it for several months. I have never managed to go beyond level 3, almost all the worms that disappeared from the filling of the first work tank, level 2, either because they died in the work tank, or because they 'ran into the collection tank of the liquid in which they ended up drowning. I repeated the experience several times and still the same disappointment after a few weeks.

  Producer of worms for the fishing market for more than 15 years, I am familiar with the worms recommended by the manufacturer to raise them myself: Eisenia andrei (red), Eisenia foetida (zebra), Dendrobaena veneta (the dendro ). So I concluded that for vermicomposting kitchen waste, either the method was not good or the worm was not the right one.

  I then conducted two series of tests in parallel, test (1) with the same method but with a new worm, the Dindrodrilus rubidus, test (2) with a new method and a mixture of two species of worms: Eisenia andrei and Dindrodrilus rubidus. Test (1): failure. The new worms have not resisted more than the known worms. Test (2): I tried to work differently, no longer from bottom to top but from top to bottom, the first work plateaus being the level 4 platter, the second platter the level 3 platter and the third platter the level one platter. level 2. I did not introduce worms into the first work tray until it filled with waste. A month later, the worms had settled in this first plateau, level 4 and began to descend in the second plateau, level 3. This new method seemed to be good but I soon saw its limits from a point of view functional in that, once the system of rotation of the trays operational, it would be necessary to raise two trays each weighing between 10 and 15 kg to deposit the waste in the lowest working tray, level 2. During this test, and this was confirmed by the following tests, I was able to observe that the population of worms Dindrodrilus rubidus took precedence over that of worms Eisenia andrei.

  From these tests, I conclude that in the field of kitchen waste treatment:

  1) The method advocated by the inventor of the COW is not good. Without having studied the reasons why worms died, I see two causes: - too much water content of this waste, water that during the composting process passes through the various trays in which are installed worms , loading these trays with too much humidity or because of a too great variation of moisture causing worms to die. In the test method (2), the worms are no longer subject to this excessive humidity or moisture variation since they are always on it. In its user manual, the French importer of COW says: 25 to 30% of what you give to eat must be dry fibers such as cardboard.I conclude that to limit this problem of moisture So you have to dry the organic material by incorporating cardboard that will absorb some of the liquid, and if 30% of the weight of the waste has to be cardboard, it's no longer recycling kitchen waste. adds that I tried to incorporate cardboard in my garbage but that did not change the problem, the fact that the worms are put first in the work tray.Within the first weeks of operation of the the garbage they are supposed to digest are still fresh waste.Without sufficient food, many worms are saved in search of it and from the first days go down into the collection tray of the liquid in which they end up drowning, 2) this type of organic waste es, too acidic, is not the food adapted to the worms recommended. To overcome this disadvantage and to prevent worms from escaping in search of food, the French importer of the COW advises in its user manual to add each week to waste a handful of food based on a mixture of cereals .

  He adds: Avoid too much acidic food such as citrus fruits, garlic and onions. A handful of lime mix each week will balance the effects of overly acidic food. The pH of your COW must remain neutral, 3) the only worms known to date, capable of satisfactorily composting this waste, are the worms Dindrodrilus rubidus because they are adapted to live in more acidic environments. In his letter sent to me in January 2006, after having identified the sample that I had sent to him as a worm Dindrodrilus rubidus, the Professor Marcel BOUCHE, imminent specialist of the INRA, specifies that it is is an animal loving acid and very organic soils. In the tests I'm doing today, worms only feed on this waste, no need for a mixture of cereals or limed mix. The interest of such a method shows its limits since, in addition to being ineffective, it is restrictive, even going to require a lot of attention, which is far from the simple concern of natural waste elimination. organic. The solution is a method and apparatus for the treatment of kitchen waste by vermicomposting such that: the different containers are assembled to form a horizontal "loop" process line, this process line is provided with access for the worms allowing them to migrate between the containers forming the treatment chain, the organic waste is placed in the containers, a certain quantity of worms is disposed above said waste in at least one container, the containers remain filled for some time to allow the worms to digest the organic matter and move from one container to the other in search of food, the containers treated with the worms are emptied of their contents, filled with fresh waste and find themselves therefore again in the processing chain. The recommended worm is Dindrodrilus rubidus. 35 By digesting organic matter, worms produce an organic amendment called vermicompost and a liquid that can be used as fertilizer. In an optimum system, the containers are contiguous so that the two perforated vertical walls of each of them are contiguous to one of the perforated vertical walls 40 of the previous and the next, which allows the worms to migrate from one to the other. one container to another when the first one does not offer enough food. The containers are arranged in such a way that the circuit thus created for moving the worms is in the form of a loop, thus constituting a horizontal processing line. Organic matter takes about four months to be composted by worms. In an optimum system, it is therefore necessary that the loop be buckled in four months.

  Organic matter is mainly of plant origin but may also include other wastes. Examples include: peelings and leftover vegetables and fresh fruit, tea leaves and tea bags, coffee grounds and filters, cooked fruits and vegetables, cardboard (egg carton, pizza carton), the droppings of your pets and their litter (wood shavings, sawdust). This list is not exhaustive. In the case of which we are mainly concerned, it corresponds to kitchen waste generated by a home and by out-of-home catering.

  Once the initial container is filled with waste, the worms are placed on top of them in their packing litter. The worms will be able to begin to digest the organic matter already partially decomposed by settling in the layer of waste. The holes in some of the vertical walls of the container will allow the worms to migrate either because the composting process is over or because there is an increase in the population. In optimum operation, in a conventional four-container system, the worms colonize mainly the intermediate containers, the oldest container having been composted and ready to be emptied of its contents, the most recent container of the freshest wastes .

  The combination of vermiculture and the worm Dindrodrilus rubidus allows the optimization of the treatment of kitchen waste: optimization of the composting time three to four times faster than a conventional system of outdoor fermentation, optimization of the agronomic value of obtained product, the vermicompost, and finally, optimization of the cost of treatment for the community since the composting is done at the source of the production of waste. Other advantages of the present invention could be mentioned, but those mentioned above already sufficiently demonstrate technical innovation and economic interest.

  The process is also suitable for rearing worms. The main advantage over the COW is that the worms remain alive and can reproduce in the environment that best suits them. This method of free breeding does not require any particular technicality, the food, the heat and the hygrometry necessary for the reproduction of the worms and their good development being ensured by the fact that: abundant and adapted food is provided constantly, 40 the ideal temperature of 20-25 C normally exists all year long inside a house, the waste, by their humidity, permanently maintain the hygrometry necessary inside the apparatus. In this context, this system will make especially the happiness of the fisherman.

  The description and the attached diagrams are representative of an exemplary embodiment of an application system of the invention but are not limiting in nature: other embodiments are possible within the scope and scope of the invention. the scope of this invention, in particular by changing the arrangement and shape of the containers, as well as the type of waste treated. They will be further developments of this patent invention for recycling organic waste by the worm, in compliance with measures of hygiene and public health.

  Figs. 1 and fig. 2 are representative of the basic treatment system comprising: - a cover (1) with ventilation holes, common to the four containers, a cross (2) defining the four containers forming the two perforated vertical inner walls of each of they, a tray (3) in which is embedded the cross and whose periphery materializes the (fig.2) or the (fig.1) outer vertical walls of the four containers and whose perforated bottom constitutes their perforated base, a bin (4) for collecting the liquid common to the four containers. The square shape shown in FIG. 1 and the rounded shape shown in FIG. 2 are two variants of this basic processing system.

  Fig. 3 represents a more elaborate system of four removable containers, each container consisting of: a cover (1) with ventilation holes, two perforated vertical walls (2) to allow the worms to move from one container to the next in the loop, a perforated bottom (3) for the flow of liquid, a liquid collection tank (4). The system represented by FIG. 4 is a variant of the system shown in FIG. 3 in which the liquid collection tank (1) is common to all containers.

  Figs. 5, 6 and 7 represent horizontal processing lines. We advise that the size of a container corresponds to the volume of waste produced during a month for small systems. The organic matter takes about four months to be composted by the worms, four containers then make up the treatment chain (Figure 5). But we can also imagine creating, for larger volumes, subsystems of two containers to treat the monthly volume, a container corresponding to a volume of fifteen days and eight containers then composing the chain (Figure 6), or even subsystems of four containers, a container corresponding to a volume of one week and sixteen containers then composing the chain (Figure 7). Two types of containers can then form the chains, those (fig.8) whose two perforated vertical walls are adjacent and those (fig.9) whose two perforated vertical walls are opposite to extend the processing chain.

Claims (6)

claims   1. Apparatus for the treatment of organic waste by vermicomposting, consisting of several containers adapted to receive organic material and to be combined to form a "loop" treatment chain, each container having a cover with ventilation holes ( 1), each container having a perforated base (3) to allow the flow of the liquid, each container having its own liquid collection tank (4) or a common collection tank to all of the containers making up the apparatus, this collection tank being adapted to retain the liquid and allow its evacuation, characterized in that each container has a number of perforated vertical walls (2) to allow the worms to move from one container to the next in the chain of treatment.   2. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that the apparatus consists of containers whose perforated vertical walls are contiguous and opposite to extend the processing chain.   3. Process for the treatment of organic waste by vermicomposting, such as the different containers are assembled to form the processing chain, such that the organic waste is placed successively in each container, once the previous container is filled, such that the containers remain filled in for a time to allow the worms to compost the organic matter and move from one container to another, such as the composted container is emptied of its compost, filled with fresh waste and thus finds itself back in the chain treatment, characterized in that this processing chain is horizontal, this processing chain being provided with access means for worms allowing them to migrate between the containers forming the chain. 25   4. Method according to claim 3 characterized in that the step of placing the worms is in the upper part of the first container to be composted, above the organic waste layer.   5. Method according to claim 3 or claim 4 characterized by the use of a worm, Dindrodrilus rubidus, particularly adapted to the main type of waste object of this invention: so-called kitchen waste and the like.   6. Process for rearing worms, in particular worms Dindrodrilus rubidus, characterized in that a population of worms is placed on organic waste in an apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, so that rearing does not require no technical, ideal conditions of reproduction and fattening (temperature, hygrometry, permanent adequate food) being provided by the system.