Compost leachate (CL) is often treated as sewage. Limited studies have characterised the use of CL for agriculture application due to the variation of nutrient range, potential pollutants and need for pretreatment before use. This paper reviewed the characteristics of CL in terms of its nutrients and physical characteristics from three types of biowastes, i.e. the organic portion of municipal solid waste (OP-MSW), animal manure and green waste. The nutrient range characterised are used to develop the dilution rate of the CL as fertigation water for three types of vegetables. The dilution rate of CL developed is based on the fertigation standards set by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Malaysia Standards. The results show that all CL contain high organic content and micronutrients, which exceeded the upper limits. For the fertigation of vegetables using the CL, based on the requirement of COD and micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Ni, Cd, Cr) of the vegetables, the CL from green waste required the lowest dilution rate (8-45 fold), followed by animal waste (33-65 fold) and the OP-MSW (193-1770 fold). The novel dilution range developed is vital to balance the essential nutrients in the CL while avoiding phototoxicity on plant and soil pollution. The dilution strategy developed is essential to support the conversion of CL as an organic liquid fertiliser for agricultural application.

Faculty of Science Department of Biosciences Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 UTM Johor Bahru Johor Malaysia

Innovation Centre in Agritechnology for Advanced Bioprocessing Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 84600 Pagoh Johor Malaysia

School of Chemical and Energy Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 Johor Bahru Johor Malaysia

School of Environmental Science and Engineering Shanghai Jiao Tong University 800 Dong Chuan Road Minhang District Shanghai 200240 China

Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory SPIL NETME Centre Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Brno University of Technology VUT Brno Technická 2896 2 616 00 Brno Czech Republic

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