Technological Breakthrough for Large Scale Bioconversion of Coir Pith towards Sustainable Soil Health Management and Development of Source Point Methane Abatement Model
Authors: Bera R. , Datta A. , Bose S. , Barik A. K. , Mallick R. , Ganguli M. , Narasimhan V. L. , Quah E. , Mukherjee K. , Bhattacharya P. , Seal A. 
Published: April 2023

Coir pith, a byproduct of coir industry, continues to be dumped as a waste in India, because despite its utility being claimed in different applications, an efficient and adoptable technology for its safe utilization is yet unavailable. Due to high lignin content and high C:N ratio, coir pith when left untreated can take decades to decompose, which not only leads to environmental pollution but most importantly methane emission, thereby contributing to climate change. However, once composted, coir pith can transform into an effective soil rejuvenator, considering its utility towards amelioration of especially marginal/ agriculturally degraded soil and improvement of soil productivity. But so far, there is no available composting technology in this respect which is practically feasible, economically viable and socially acceptable.

Under IBM-IORF Sustainability project (2022-23) at Mandya, Karnataka, an effort was initiated utilizing Novcom Composting Technology, towards bioconversion of coir pith into safe, mature and qualitative compost for sustainable soil management, especially looking at the stony red soils of the area which are erosion prone, and have a poor productive potential.

Periodical study of Novcom coir pith compost samples on 0, 10, 20 and 30 days confirmed effective degradation as demonstrated by the rapid decline of C:N ratio from 1:100 to < 1:25, appreciation of total nitrogen by 98 percent and 60 % degradation of lignin within a 30 days’ time period. The facts are corroborated by the respective very high (in the order of 1016 c.f.u. per gm or one Trillion Billion microflora per ton compost) population of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes. Phytotoxicity Bioassay test values confirmed not only the absence of phytotoxic elements in compost, but also indicated that this compost can actually accelerate seed germination and root growth process. Estimation of methane mitigation potential under this technology utilizing the carbon assessment tool - Agriculture Carbon Footprint Assessor (ACFA, version: 1.0) indicated that untreated coir pith can potentially emit methane in the range of 5897 – 6025 kg CO2 equivalent (taking GWP24 years of methane: 75).

GHG emission during biodegradation of coir pith utilizing Novcom Composting Technology, was found to be about 31 times lower (6.47 kg  CO2 equivalent/ ton treated waste) than the reference values recorded in respect of any other standard biodegradation process. Especially in terms of methane the negligible emission under this composting technology is the highlight, as corroborated by the documented value of 0.61 kg CO2 equivalent/ ton treated waste. The evaluation confirmed that bioconversion of coir pith utilizing Novcom Composting Technology can enable methane mitigation of about 6000 ton CO2 equivalent per 1000 ton waste, directly from the source point.

The study indicated that Novcom Composting Technology can transform not only a potential pollutant to a quality organic soil amendment, the process also etches out and effective pathway for methane abatement directly from the source point that has crucial impact not only in respect of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13, but also SDG 15, SDG-3 and most importantly SDG-2. Hence, bioconversion of coir- pith utilizing this technology can also facilitate an effective model towards the Net Zero commitment with significant social and environmental impacts.