I don't think the end product is "compost". It sounds like it just cooks and dehydrates stuff.

Lloyd

I saw a seminar about a similar operation being set up somewhere in urban NJ to handle mostly food waste from processing plants. They homogenized it (think of a giant garbage smoothie) and incubated it for a fairly short time in big vats with air bubbling through, I want to say 4 days, and then made it into granules. By adding other materials they could make lawn or garden fert, house plant blend, etc. I brought home a sample, it stunk in the bag and stunk even worse when I sprinkled it in my house plant pots. So it's kinda half composted.

I don't think the 180 F temp would 'cook all the nitrogen out', it's not necessarily volatile if it's in the form of nitrates, proteins, etc. The high temps will speed decomp. and also kill pathogens.

Certainly has organic matter content which is good for the soil, don't forget about P and K, micronutrients, and frankly I've found that active decomposition can be an almost shocking boost to plant growth (i.e. lasagne gardening).

Kinda surprised they haven't done any testing themselves.

Thanks for your replies.

I'm wondering if there is an easy way to test the pH?

I misunderstood what this thing is. Would help if I read the link FIRST before posting. So it's a small machine installed in restaurants etc. to process waste into a dry, sanitized material. They're not selling the product, but the machine itself.

Yeah, definitely not composted. I'd love to have some of that stuff to add to my compost bin though! I think it would require some trial and error to find a good blend for composting it. I would think if it's mostly food waste you're going to need some browns to blend it with. Wood shavings or sawdust would be ideal, because the particle size of the food is already reduced and you could get a nice product pretty fast requiring no sifting.

As far as pH testing, you can mix some of it into water - distilled preferred, and use about 10x as much water - and then use a pH paper or pH meter to check it.

The pH is going to reflect whatever the food waste was that went in, but the material is not stable, as it will begin to decompose as soon as it is hydrated and in contact with soil microbes. The composting process will bring it toward a neutral pH as it does with all organic matter.

If you are concerned about how it will affect your soil, compost it first.

Heating that product to 180 degrees F will not "cook" all the Nitrogen out of it but those temperatures will kill off the bacteria and fungi that make compost what it is. Compost is labeled as a soil amendmment, soil conditioner, and not a fertilizer, because the nutrients in the compost are not readily available and do not appear on tests for nutrients, easily.

Thanks for the additional information and ideas. I was concerned that the product might be alkaline like wood ashes and not help our already very alkaline soil and water. When I get a sample of the compost I'll try testing it with pH paper. I guess you get it at a drug store?