Composting and anaerobic digestion technologies as methods for reduction of virus transmission in the environment

Survival of bovine enterovirus was studied in animal by-products subjected to sanitization processes. Composting technology and anaerobic digestion under mesophilic (37 °C) and thermophilic (55 °C) conditions were tested in terms of their effectiveness. Viruses were introduced into the biomass in the course of waste treatment processes and virus titres were determined at appropriate time intervals. Technology which allowed the most effective virus elimination, after 2 h, was thermophilic fermentation. During composting, bovine enterovirus survival ranged from 12 to 17 days, whereas the survival time for mesophilic fermentation was 28 days.