Silva, Ana CatarinaTeixeira , AnaAntelo Cortizas, Juan ManuelValderrama, PatriciaOliveira, RuiCunha, AnaGley, RennaudPinheiro, Jose PauloFiol López, SarahBento, Fátima2025-04-212025-04-212022-06-02Silva, A.C.; Teixeira, A.; Antelo, J.; Valderrama, P.; Oliveira, R.; Cunha, A.; Gley, R.; Pinheiro, J.P.; Fiol, S.; Bento, F. Distinctive Features of Composts of Different Origin: AThorough Examination of the Characterization Results. Sustainability 2022, 14, 7449. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127449https://hdl.handle.net/10347/40869The potential of composts produced from different origin residues to be used in environ- mentally friendly agriculture is addressed in this work. Seven composts obtained from different raw materials and composting methodologies are compared using elemental, thermal and spectroscopic characterization data. Despite the stabilization of the organic matter in all composts being adequate for agricultural applications, they display distinct elemental and structural compositions. Likewise, the fertilisers have very different effects on lettuce growth. Despite the observed differences, some common features were found, namely a mass loss (TGA) of 25.2 g per mol C, association between groups of elements (Fe, Al, Ni, Co, Cr, Cu and S; Mg, Na, K and P, C, Coxi, N and Pb) and correlations between the amount of carbon nanostructures and the characteristic aromaticity parameters. These results suggest that the tuning of the compost features for specific cultures may be possible for sustainable food production.eng© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Algae biomassCompostPCA analysisUrban biowastesVermicompost2391 Química ambiental2511 Ciencias del suelo (Edafología)journal article10.3390/su141274492071-1050open access