Composts and Organic Wastes: Analytical Methods and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Worldwide, there is growing concern over friendly waste management with a desire to advance the circular economy. Particularly, organic wastes have a long tradition of recycling in agriculture, as well as many other uses. The new ways of recycling, the appearance of emerging pollutants, and the continuous development of analytical instrumentation have produced constant R&D advancement in these topics. New analytical instruments and software have emerged that allow the characterization of waste and its effects focused on very different objectives. The biological, chemical, hydrophysical, engineering, and environmental aspects of waste recycling must be assessed in a faster, safer, and more reliable way. This Special Issue will collect the latest advances in the analytical methodology applied to the characterization of products such as compost, sewage sludge, urban waste, agro-industrial waste, manures, digestates, biochars, and in general any type of organic waste destined for recycling, reuse, or recovery. This characterization could be approached from different points of view (physical-chemical, enzymatic, microbiological, or molecular perspectives) but, in any case, it is a requirement for the development of higher quality products, which are in line with the current concept of bioeconomy and sustainability, as well as for the best prediction of its agronomic potential.

The topics of interest for this Special Issue include but are not limited to the following:

• Biological and biochemical characterization
• Biodiversity indexes
• Metagenomic, transcriptomic and proteomic
• Maturity and stability indexes
• Emerging persistent micropollutants
• Odor and VOCs in waste processing
• Biochar characterization and biochar quality; proximate analysis
• Reflectance spectroscopy, visible and near-infrared (VNIR), X-ray fluorescence, and merging of analytical techniques
• Speciation, transformation, and phytotoxicity

Dr. Rafael López Núñez
Prof. Francisca Suárez Estrella
Guest Editors

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