Composting Calculations

for the Pueblo of Santa Ana Department of Natural Resources

This spreadsheet was developed by a team of students from Worcester Polytechinic Institute for the
the Pueblo of Santa Ana Department of Natural Resources to use in planning operations for their
upcoming composting project. It was developed as part of a larger report to the DNR available at
https://sites.google.com/site/sf16compost/. The report can also be found by searching WPI's Gordon
Library at https://www.wpi.edu/academics/library.html.

Authors:
Daniel Beckwith, Computer Science 2017
Sierra Fowler, Chemical Engineering 2017
Anna Schab, Civil Engineering & Technical Writing 2017

The Cornell Waste Management Institute's website was extremely helpful in making this
spreadsheet: http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/composting.htm

How to Use this Spreadsheet

In each sheet, you'll see both calculation cells and input cells. They are colored to indicate which is
which:
Input Cell Calculation Cell
Input cells usually require a number. A plain number can be entered, but you are also free to enter
Excel formulas into input cells. Calculation cells cannot be edited.

Table of Contents

Compost Mixture
This sheet allows the user to create a custom compost recipe by adding any number of ingredients
and providing information about their properties. Some overall properties of the resulting mixture
are shown in this sheet as well.
Bosque Deadwood
This sheet is intended to give the DNR a sense of the amount of available cottonwood material
currently available in the Rio Grande bosque due to the die-off.

Composting Area
This sheet allows the user to calculate the needed area for the composting facility in order to fit
active composting windrows, curing windrows, and storage for final compost.
Compost Mixture Properties
This sheet will help you determine what materials will go into the compost and
the resulting properties of the raw material mixture. Note that except when
specified, all weights are by wet weight (they include moisture content).

Mixture Properties Recommended Values Notes

39.6 C:N ratio of mixture between 20 and 40

1,229 lbs/yd³ mixture bulk density less than 1300

65% target moisture content between 40 and 65 will be balanced by adding

extra water
62% moisture content of mixture
0.032 lbs water/lbs mixture needed
8.35 lbs/gal of water
4.75 gal water/yd³ of mixture

Food Waste limiting factor limited by yearly intake

potential
361 ton/yr total material intake

Bulk Dens ity Year ly Intak

1,600 1,200
1,400
1,400 1,000
1,215 927.6
1,200
800
1,000
800 600
600
600
400
400
200
200
0 0
Cottonwood Horse Manure Food Waste Cottonwood Hors
 Material lbs/yd³ bulk density yd³/yr intake dry carbon content
Cottonwood 600 928 69%
Horse Manure 1,215 962 81%
Food Waste 1,400 229 38%

Total

Yearly Intake (yd³/Yr ) Car bon to Nitrogen R ati o

600

962.0 496.0
927.6 500

400

300

200
229.3
100
45.0
1
0
ttonwood Hors e Manure Food Waste Cottonwood Hors e Manure Food
 dry nitrogen content moisture content relative weight in mixture ton/yr intake C:N ratio
0% 0% 1.0 278.3 496
2% 70% 4.0 584.4 45
3% 69% 4.0 160.5 15
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

bon to Nitrogen R ati o

45.0
15.2

Hors e Manure Food Wa ste

weight % density contribution carbon contribution nitrogen contribution
11% 67 0.08 0.0002
44% 540 0.11 0.0024
44% 622 0.05 0.0034
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
0% - - -
1,229 0.24 0.0060
moisture contribution weight ratio limit ton/yr limited weight intake
0% 2,505 40
31% 1,315 161
31% 361 161
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
0% -
62% 361 361
Bosque Deadwood Utilization
This sheet is specifically for the Pueblo of Santa Ana. It calculates the
amount of dead cottonwood material in the Rio Grande bosque that
could be used for compost.

Bosque Deadwood Utilization

120.0 ac deadwood 30 trees in count area
580,800 yd² deadwood 10,000 ft² count area
131 trees/ac 131 trees/ac
15,682 trees
40.0 ft tree height
20.0 ft tree span
1.00% tree volume
125.7 ft³/tree
2,793 lbs/tree
21,896 ton deadwood in bosque

0.77 ton cottonwood/wk

546 yr to use all cottonwood
Composting Area Calculation
This sheet will help you determine what kind of ground area will be needed to fit
raw material, composting windrows, curing compost, and finished compost in your
composting center.

Adapted from Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation's "Turned Windrow Compostin

Compost Material Production Rate figure out how much compost will be produced
6.95 ton material/wk
1,229 lbs/yd³ material bulk density
11.3 total yd³ material/wk
60% volume reduction
4.52 total yd³ finished compost/wk amount of finished product

5.0 wk in active composting

56.5 total yd³ material processed
20% % blending shrink factor
45.2 total yd³ on active windrow pad amount of active composting material

Windrow Size and Count figure out how many windrows are needed
25.0 ft windrow length
3.25 ft windrow height
6.50 ft windrow width
66% cross sectional area
349 avg ft³/windrow

3.50 # of windrows
4 # of windrows (rounded up)

Composting Pad Size figure out how large the main composting pad needs to be
26.0 ft combined width of windrows
3 # of work alleys
10.0 ft width of work alleys
30.0 ft combined width of work alleys
20.0 ft width of additional perimeter
96.0 ft total pad width
45.0 ft total pad length
4,320 ft² total pad area

Curing Pad Size figure out how large the curing pad needs to be
 30.0 wk in curing & storage
60% % shrink factor
108.5 total yd³ in curing & storage
30.0 ft windrow length
8.00 ft windrow height
16.00 ft windrow width
66% cross sectional area
2,534 avg ft³/windrow
1.16 # of windrows
2 # of windrows (rounded up)
32.00 ft combined width of windrows
1 # of work alleys
10.0 ft width of work alleys
10.0 ft combined width of work alleys
20.0 ft width of additional perimeter
82.0 ft total pad width
50.0 ft total pad length
4,100 ft² total pad area
 material would have to come in all at once
windrows will all be different ages

sting pad needs to be

Item Cost Notes Include things such as equipme
or any other one-time costs fro
Compost Turner $ 19,035.00 operation.
Sifter $ 100.00
Bagger $ 48,000.00
Front-end loader $ - For moving materials

Total $ 67,135.00
Include things such as equipment costs, setup costs,
or any other one-time costs from the start of the
operation.
Item Cost/Week Notes Include upkeep costs, material
costs, and any other periodic c
Machine Upkeep $ 10.00
Water Supply $ 2.40 Used for moisturizing compost
Labor $ 480.00
Material Grinding $ 8.23 Haul to Sandoval County Landfill
6.5
13.0
12.0
1.08
$ 1.90
$ 2.06
4.0
$ 8.23

$ 12.00
2
Total $ 500.64 20.0
$ 480.00

45.21
5.0
226.1
4.75
1,073
$ 0.0022
$ 2.40
Include upkeep costs, material costs, labor costs, utility
costs, and any other periodic costs.

mi to SC Landfill
mi roundtrip
mpg of trucks
gal gas used
$/gal gas
$/trip
trip/wk
$/wk

$/hr for labor

employees
hr/wk/employee
$/wk

yd³ on active windrow pad

wk in active composting
yd³/wk material processed
gal water/yd³ of mixture
gal/wk
$/gal
$/wk
Item Profit/Week Notes Include any kind of profits mad
sales.
Compost Bag Sales $ 596.68
Bulk Compost Sales $ 92.59

80
$ 8.00
$ 0.54
$ 596.68

5.00
$ 3.70
5.0
$ 92.59

Total $ 689.27
nclude any kind of profits made from the facility, such as
ales.

compost bags/wk sold 0.93 yd³ compost from bulk

$/compost bag 40 lbs/compost bag
$/compost bag supply cost 1,000 lbs/yd³ bag density
$/wk 1.08 ft³ bag volume
3.20 yd³ compost from bags
avg ft³/compost load 4.52 yd³/wk compost produced
$/ft³ 4.13 yd³/wk compost sold
loads/wk 0.40 yd³/wk compost excess
$/wk
Initial Cost $ 67,135.00
Gross/Week $ 188.63
Payback Period (weeks) 356
Payback Period (years) 6.85