Odorous gaseous emissions as influence by process condition for the forced aeration composting of pig slaughterhouse sludge

•The gaseous emissions produced by various composting process conditions were characterized and quantified.•Nine compounds were potentially odorous: TMA, NH3, 2-pentanone, 1-propanol-2-methyl, acetophenone and sulphur forms.•The tested composting process conditions reduced odour emissions by a factor of 5–10.•A reduction of 105 to 106 is required to reach an odour threshold limit at peak event emissions.•Both aeration rate and bulking agent had the most impact on reducing odour emissions. Compost sustainability requires a better control of its gaseous emissions responsible for several impacts including odours. Indeed, composting odours have stopped the operation of many platforms and prevented the installation of others. Accordingly, present technologies collecting and treating gases emitted from composting are not satisfactory and alternative solutions must be found. Thus, the aim of this paper was to study the influence of composting process conditions on gaseous emissions. Pig slaughterhouse sludge mixed with wood chips was composted under forcedaerationin 300L laboratory reactors. The process conditions studied were: aeration rate of 1.68, 4.03, 6.22, 9.80 and 13.44L/h/kg of wet sludge; incorporation ratio of 0.55, 0.83 and 1.1 (kg of wet wood chips/kg of wet sludge), and; bulking agent particles size of