Decomposition is a part of the life cycle: When living things die, their organic matter decomposes. Anyone interested in composting has taken advantage of this process, but there’s a lot more to decomposition, including energy!
Let’s take a closer look at decomposition and learn what it actually is, how it works, and how people can use this essential part of the life cycle by tapping into its energy.
What Is Decomposition?
Before we start discussing decomposition energy, we first need to figure out what exactly decomposition is.
In the broadest sense, decomposition is simply the breaking down of material into smaller parts. For organic materials, this breaking down, or decomposition, begins shortly after a living thing dies, and can take place over an extended period of time.
It’s important to note that decomposition processes can vary widely between living things. Because of this, we’ll try to focus on the general facts about decomposition without getting into too many specifics.
What Are the Two Processes Involved in Decomposition?
As we’ve established, decomposition is the decay of formerly living organic matter. This decay can take place through one of two processes, either through autolysis or through putrefaction.
Autolysis refers to a decomposition process that’s driven by enzymes and chemicals produced by the thing that is decaying. The auto- prefix makes sense here: This driver of decomposition doesn’t need any outside activity to work.
In contrast, putrefaction refers to a decomposition process that is driven by living things outside of the organic matter that is decomposing. Specifically, putrefaction occurs when bacteria and fungi — existing outside of the thing that is decomposing — work to break down the formerly living organic matter.
What Is the Difference Between Anaerobic Decomposition and Aerobic Decomposition?
They may sound like $5 words (and they certainly have plenty of syllables), but anaerobic decomposition and aerobic decomposition are simple concepts to understand.
Anaerobic decomposition refers to decomposition that occurs without the presence of oxygen. Also called anaerobic digestion, anaerobic decomposition is used to create biogas, a type of decomposition energy that is used as a fuel source.
Anaerobic decomposition is also used in fermentation. Fermentation is a specific chemical process that is often used in the creation of beer and wine, so if you’ve enjoyed a cold one recently, you have decomposition to thank!
Aerobic decomposition is, conversely, decomposition that occurs when oxygen is present. This type of decomposition is most common in nature (anaerobic digestion most often takes place in controlled environments within industrialized agriculture).
What Affects How Fast Decomposition Occurs?
How fast decomposition occurs — also known as the rate of decomposition — is affected by a wide range of factors, which is why decomposition is so variable.
The environment in which a living thing decomposes can vastly affect the rate of decomposition. High temperatures and moist conditions can increase decomposition rates, while extremely dry conditions can slow decomposition rates.
The microbial community surrounding the decomposing matter can also affect the decomposition rate. Certain microbes will be able to perform the putrefaction processes that lead to decomposition quicker than other microbes, which affects the decomposition rate.
Finally, the matter itself that is undergoing decomposition can greatly affect the decomposition rate. Let’s look into this further through the use of examples.
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How Long Does It Take Plastic to Decompose?
This is a difficult question to answer. The World Wildlife Foundation estimates that plastic bags can break down in as little as 20 years, while others estimate it will take that same plastic bag 1,000 years (a millennium!) to break down, depending on the conditions of decomposition.
There are two reasons why this is a difficult question. First, plastic bags have only been around since 1965, so we haven’t seen enough years pass to test the longer estimates for the decomposition rates of plastics.
Second — and perhaps more importantly — plastics are synthetic creations, which means they can’t decompose the way that plants, animals, or food can. Plastic substances like plastic bags won’t decompose through biologic processes, but they can break down through a process called photodegradation.
Photodegradation occurs when the sun’s radiant energy — specifically the ultraviolet and infrared radiation present in sunlight — breaks down plastic at a molecular level. This is a slow process though, especially when plastic bags are buried in a landfill, safe from the sun’s light.
How Long Does It Take Styrofoam to Decompose?
Similar to plastics, Styrofoam is a synthetic substance, which means it can’t decompose the way biologic, organic matter can. Also similar to plastics, exact estimates for how long it takes Styrofoam to break down are inexact, ranging from a handful of years to 1 million years!
How Long Does It Take Paper to Decompose?
Unlike plastic and Styrofoam, paper is a product made from a living thing: wood. Because of this, paper can decompose, and it does so much more quickly than plastics or Styrofoam take to break down.
Depending on specific conditions, paper takes anywhere between two and six weeks to decompose.
How Long Does It Take Glass to Decompose?
Glass takes a very, very long time to decompose. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services estimates that it can take up to 1 million years for a glass bottle to decompose in the environment.
Fortunately, glass is relatively easy to recycle, which makes it a much more environmentally friendly material than plastic.
What Are the Five Stages of Body Decomposition?
Bear with us, because this section is going to get morbid. One reason why researchers are so interested in decomposition is because it can be used as a forensic tool to determine the age of a human corpse.
This is because a corpse typically goes through five stages of decomposition, all occurring in the following order: fresh, bloat (also known as autolysis, which we’ve already discussed), active decay (also known as putrefaction, which we’ve also already discussed), advanced decay, and skeletonization.
If you’re interested in forensic science, this is a great resource for learning more about how decomposition is used to give researchers and detectives clues about the dead. For the rest of us, it’s enough to know those five stages of decomposition and move on.
Can Digital Data Decompose?
Up until this point, the decomposition that we’ve discussed has been focused on living things that occur in our world. But what about the digital world? Can our data decompose?
The answer, surprisingly, is yes! Data can decompose — though this process is most often referred to as digital decay or digital degradation — when the physical components that make up our digital infrastructure start to fall apart.
Hard drives, which are used to store our digital data, have a lifespan of just three to five years. If your hard drive crashes and you haven’t backed your data up to another storage device, then you’ve lost that data to digital decomposition. It seems we really can’t escape the power of decomposition!
How Can We Use Decomposition for Energy?
Now that we’ve learned what decomposition is and how decomposition works, we can look to see how we might use it.
One of the most exciting uses for decomposition is decomposition energy. Decomposition energy works like this: One of the byproducts of decomposition processes is a gas called methane. In addition to being a potent greenhouse gas, methane can be burned to power steam turbines and generate electricity.
According to the United Nations, roughly 20% of global methane emissions come from landfills, which are sites of concentrated decomposition. If biodegradable material was diverted from landfills and sent to locations built to capture the methane they emit, this methane could then be used as a (renewable) energy source.
Finally, remember that anaerobic decomposition, also called anaerobic digestion, is used to create the fuel source biogas, another kind of decomposition energy (that happens to be renewable).
How Else Can We Use Decomposition?
Decomposition isn’t only useful for its methane though. We can capture decomposition energy in a different way, through composting. This takes a little more to set up, but it’s worth following along.
Composting is the process of turning food scraps and food waste into fertilizer. This occurs through — you guessed it! — decomposition. Under certain conditions, when food scraps and food waste decompose, their organic matter decays into a different kind of organic matter: a fertile soil sometimes referred to as “black gold” by gardeners.
It may not immediately seem like it, but fertilizer is a kind of energy. The fertilizer produced by the decomposition that occurs in composting can help grow plants, which can be used for a variety of things. Talk about decomposition energy!
Consider, too, that the industrial production of fertilizers consumes a whopping 1.2% of our planet’s total energy production. The more decomposition energy we harness through composting, the less energy we have to use to produce fertilizers through industrial processes.
We’re at The End of This Article’s Life Cycle
As with everything in life, this article must come to an end. We’ve learned all about decomposition, starting with what this natural process actually is, to learning how decomposition works.
We’ve discussed some different types of decomposition and discovered the decomposition rates of some common materials like plastic bags and glass.
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Most importantly, we’ve uncovered the uses of decomposition, including the different ways that decomposition energy can be used to help power our modern civilization.
If learning about decomposition energy has energized you to learn more about these kinds of topics, check out the Tara Energy blog. You’ll find a long list of informative and entertaining energy-related topics at that link. Happy reading!
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