A novel solid-state, multi-layered biodegradable microbial inoculant system for rice straw composting: biocapsule design, characterization, and performance evaluation

Lignocellulolytic microbial inoculants are widely used to enhance lignocellulosic waste composting, but their efficacy is often limited by environmental stress and uncontrolled release when conventional liquid inoculants are used. This study introduces a multi-layered biocapsule structure that sustains lignocellulolytic microbial activity and evaluates its composting efficiency through control experiments. A three-layered biodegradable biocapsule was designed using a rice straw biocomposite, humic acid, activated carbon, corn starch, carboxymethyl cellulose, and calcium alginate beads with encapsulated Klebsiella–Enterobacter consortium immobilized on hydroxyapatite nanoparticles. The biocapsule comprises a rice straw outer biocomposite shell in the outermost layer, a moisture retention hydrogel in the middle, and the encapsulated bacteria in calcium alginate beads in the core. The designed biocapsule was used in three treatments: intact biocapsule, powdered biocapsule, and a control (without inoculants), and the composting efficacy was evaluated against Sri Lankan Standards for compost products. Calcium alginate beads achieved 78.29% ± 9.57% and 84.45% ± 6.04% bacterial encapsulation efficiency and bacterial release, respectively, with heavy bacterial colonization in beads. The entire biocapsule reached 56.16% ± 1.65% biodegradation in 7 days. Intact biocapsule enhanced early lignocellulolysis, faster pH neutralization, and reduced electrical conductivity to 0.62 ± 0.00 while sustaining prolonged thermogenesis above 55 °C for 25 days. The intact biocapsule significantly improved compost nutrient availability, increasing total nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels by 71.89%, 83.0%, and 60.66%, respectively, while achieving a total organic carbon loss of 53.30% and a Carbon: Nitrogen ratio decline of 72.83%.