AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/AJWEP026040018
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Phosphate-enhanced co-composting of municipal sludge and forestry residues for low-carbon topsoil improvement

Qiao Li1 Jiuxian Yang1 Ying Wang1 Yipeng Wang1 Wenyou Wu1 Jiyuan Jin1 Yalin Yu2 Junfeng Zhang2 Dongdong Ge2,3*
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1 POWERCHINA Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2 School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
3 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Received: 23 January 2026 | Revised: 15 February 2026 | Accepted: 27 February 2026 | Published online: 22 April 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The degradation of high-altitude hydropower reservoir slopes limits slope stability and ecological restoration. This work proposes phosphate-enhanced co-composting, which transforms municipal sludge and forestry residues (sawdust and fallen leaves) into a high-quality soil amendment suitable for degraded topsoils in the Shuangjiangkou reservoir area. The co-composting process was optimized by adjusting the carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio, bulking agent composition, and the phosphate dosage. A C/N ratio of 25 with a sawdust–leaves composite produced stable thermophilic conditions, increased microbial enzymatic activity, accelerated organic matter decomposition, and minimized ammonium loss. Moderate phosphate addition of 0.6 mmol P/g dry solid reduced composting time to 16 days and enhanced nutrient retention. Field application of the mature compost at a 9% addition rate significantly improved the treated soils, increasing organic matter from 5.20 to 44.53 g/kg and decreasing bulk density from 1.40 to 1.31 g/cm3, while nutrient contents and heavy metal concentrations met regulatory requirements. The phosphate-enhanced co-composting strategy provides an efficient and safe solution for soil amendment in high-altitude hydropower reservoir regions, particularly contributing to carbon neutrality by promoting organic carbon stabilization, reducing waste-related emissions, and enhancing soil carbon sequestration. These findings demonstrate a low-carbon pathway linking waste management, ecological restoration, and renewable energy infrastructure development.

Keywords
Co-composting strategy
Phosphate enhancement
Compost characteristics
Topsoil improvement
Low-carbon pathway
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22306078), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20230714), the Natural Science Research of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (23KJB610006), and the Jiangsu Association for Science and Technology Youth Talent Support Project (JSTJ-2025-196).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing