SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) microstructural surface topography of biowaste and biowaste-derived composts with controlled moisture levels

<p>The dataset comprises SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) micrographs presenting the microstructural surface topography of biowaste and biowaste-derived compost samples collected during a 14-day laboratory-scale composting process.</p><p>The composted material consisted of a biowaste mixture composed of cherry tree branches, fresh grass cuttings, and model food waste prepared according to Valta et al. (2019) (doi: 10.1177/0734242X18823943), in a mass ratio of 4:1.5:1, respectively. Composting was carried out at 45°C.</p><p>The study included three experimental variants differing in the initial moisture content of the biowaste:</p><ul><li>Reactors 1–4 correspond to biowaste with an initial dry matter content of 68.4% (denoted as M100 – representing the highest moisture level analyzed),</li><li>Reactors 5–8 correspond to biowaste with an initial dry matter content of 78.4% (denoted as M90 – representing a moisture level 10 percentage points lower than the highest),</li><li>Reactors 9–12 correspond to biowaste with an initial dry matter content of 87.4% (denoted as M80 – representing a moisture level 20 percentage points lower than the highest).</li></ul><p>During the composting process, distilled water was added every three days as follows: 10 mL to reactors 1–4, 5 mL to reactors 5–8, while reactors 9–12 were incubated without any water addition throughout the process.</p><p>Samples of substrates and composts were collected on days: 0, 7, 14. The SEM analysis was conducted for reactors R1-R3, R5-R7, R9-11.</p>