Chemistry: fertilizers – Processes and products – Bacterial
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-22
2002-05-07
Griffin, Steven P. (Department: 1754)
Chemistry: fertilizers
Processes and products
Bacterial
C071S013000, C071S014000, C071S023000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06383246
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a composting accelerator useful for accelerating composting of plant-derived materials such as trees or stumps remaining after deforestation for dam or road building in a mountainous region, branches and leaves pruned from planted trees in a green land, roadside or park, withered trees and scrap wood from a building site, thereby producing their compost; and a process for producing the compost of the above-described various plant-derived materials.
BACKGROUND ART
Plant-derived materials such as trees or stumps remaining after deforestation for dam or road building, branches and leaves pruned from planted trees in a green land, roadside or park, withered trees and scrap wood from a building site have conventionally been disposed mainly by thermal disposal or burying under the ground.
Thermal disposal however not only leads to disappearance of the global resources but also promotes the destruction of the environment of the earth by emitting a carbon dioxide gas. In addition, a large amount of smoke troubles neighbors in a densely populated area.
In the disposal by burying under the ground, on the other hand, ligneous organic matters become a hot bed for bacteria causing soil infectious diseases such as white root rot, violet root rot, armillaria root rot and butt rot, thereby disordering plants or become a hot bed for cutworms such as soybean beetle, thereby causing troubles such as weakening or withering of bushes or saplings. In addition, when a raw plant-derived material buried under the ground is decomposed by bacteria or fungus, the bacteria or fungus consumes most of the nitrogen source in the soil because the nitrogen source of the plant-derived material itself is markedly small in amount, which presumably causes nitrogen starvation of plants. Another problem is that lignin, phenol or terpene in the plant-derived material elutes into the soil water and owing to the inhibitory action of it against the growth of a plant root, it brings about a hindrance to the healthy plant growth.
With the forgoing in view, disposal methods of a plant-derived material other than the above-described ones have been investigated and composting of the plant-derived material is considered as one of them.
It however takes several years for composting the above-described plant-derived materials only by depositing it after chipping, because it contains a large amount of sparingly decomposable cellulose and lignin, contains nitrogen sources in a markedly small amount compared with carbon sources and terpene or phenol contained in it is harmful for microorganisms.
A tree from which a plant-derived material appears is formed of five parts, that is, root, trunk, branch, twig and leaf. It has, as main components, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin and, as secondary components, ash content, nitrogen-containing compound (such as protein), and fat or oil. The cellulose forming the skeleton of it is a linear polymer substance consisting of about 10,000 to 14,000 D-glucose residues in &bgr;-D(1,4) linkage. Some of the residues are strongly bonded and crystallized in a bundle form, thus forming a complex composite with lignin and another polysaccharide so that it has a physically and chemically strong structure difficult to decompose.
An object of the present invention is to provide, for a plant-derived material rich in a sparingly-decomposable component such as cellulose or lignin and therefore unsuited for composting as is, a composting accelerator capable of accelerating the composting of the material, thereby producing its compost in a short period of time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide, for a plant-derived material unsuited for composting as is, a process for accelerating the composting of the material, thereby producing its compost in a short period of time.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
With a view to attaining the above-described objects, the present inventors have proceeded with an investigation. As a result, it has been found that the addition of wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder, and an organic waste matter and/or organic fertilizer to a plant-derived material makes it possible to accelerate the composting of the material and produce its compost in a short period of time. It has also been found that upon composting of the plant-derived material by adding thereto wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder and the organic waste matter and/or organic fertilizer, further addition of a composting accelerator as described in Japanese Patent Application Hei 10-327611, which is the previous invention by the present inventors, as a composting assistant makes it possible to accelerate the composting of the plant-derived material further and produce its compost in a shorter period of time, leading to the completion of the present invention.
In the present invention, there are thus provided:
(1) a composting accelerator for a plant-derived material, which comprises (A) wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder and (B) an organic waste matter and/or an organic fertilizer; and
(2) a composting accelerator for a plant-derived material, which comprises (A) wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder, (B) an organic waste matter and/or an organic fertilizer, and (C) a composting assistant which will be described below.
Composting Assistant
(i) A composting assistant which contains wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder and heat-resistant bacteria for assimilating a plant-derived material, and has a pH adjusted within a range of from 6.0 to 8.5, wherein (ii) the wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder are/is contained in an amount of 60 wt. % or greater based on the total amount of the composting assistant, (iii) the heat-resistant bacteria can survive at 55° C. after treated at 80° C. for 10 minutes and are contained in an amount of 10
5
CFU or greater in 1 g of the composting assistant, and (iv) a humic acid or a derivative thereof is contained in an amount of 2.5 wt. % or less based on the total weight of the composting assistant.
The present invention embraces, as preferred embodiments:
(3) the composting accelerator as described above in (1) or (2), wherein the weight ratio of [wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder]:[organic waste matter and/or organic fertilizer] falls within a range of 1:0.1 to 1:60, and
(4) the composting accelerator as described above in any one of (1) to (3), wherein the composting assistant is contained in an amount of 0.2 to 300 wt. % based on the total weight of the wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder and the organic waste matter and/or organic fertilizer.
In addition,
(5) the present invention provides a process for producing the compost of a plant-derived material, which comprises adding thereto the composting accelerator as described above in any one of (1) to (4), thereby composting the material.
(6) The present invention embraces, as a preferred embodiment, the compost producing process as described above in (5), wherein the composting accelerator in any one of (1) to (4) is added in an amount of 3.5 to 90 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the plant-derived material.
(7) The present invention also provides a process for producing the compost of a plant-derived material, which comprises adding, to the plant-derived material, (A) wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder and (B) an organic waste matter and/or an organic fertilizer; or (A) wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder, (B) an organic waste matter and/or an organic fertilizer and (C) a composting assistant which will be described below, thereby composting the material.
Composting Assistant
(i) A composting assistant which contains wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder and heat-resistant bacteria for assimilating a plant-derived material, and has a pH adjusted within a range of from 6.0 to 8.5, wherein (ii) the wheat bran and/or low-grade flour powder are/is contained in an amount of 60 wt. % or greater based on the total amount of the composting assistant, (iii) the heat-resistant bacteria can survive a
Kanzaki Ken
Konishi Ryoichi
Okada Kenzo
Griffin Steven P.
Johnson Edward M.
Nisshin Flour Milling Inc.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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