Food waste collected from restaurants, convenience stores, and food-processing factories was mixed with
sawdust and subjected to hydrothermal pretreatment at 180 C for 30 min to prepare compost raw material.
Furan compounds such as 5-HMF (5-hydroxymethyl furfural) and furfural were produced at concentration
levels of approximately 8 and 0.5 mg/g-ds, respectively, through hydrothermal pretreatment. The
furan compounds inhibited the activity of composting microorganisms, thus delaying the start of organic
matter degradation during composting. A newly identified fungus, Paecilomyces sp. FA13, which possesses
the ability to degrade furan compounds, was isolated and used as an inoculum for the composting
of the raw material prepared by hydrothermal pretreatment. By inoculating the FA13 into the compost
raw material at 105 CFU/g-ds, the degradation of furan compounds was accelerated. As a result, bacterial
activity, which contributed to composting, was enhanced, significantly promoting the start of vigorous
degradation of organic materials.