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Wet oxidation of sewage sludge: full-scale experience and process modeling

  • Effective management of sewage sludge
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Abstract

Nowadays, sewage sludge management represents one of the most important issues in wastewater treatment. Within the European project “ROUTES,” wet oxidation (WO) was proposed for sludge minimization. Four different types of sludge were treated in an industrial WO plant: (1) municipal primary sludge (chemical oxygen demand COD: 73.0 g/L; volatile suspended solid VSS: 44.1 g/L); (2) secondary sludge from an industrial wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) without primary sedimentation (COD: 71.8 g/L; VSS: 34.2 g/L); (3) secondary sludge from a mixed municipal and industrial WWTP without primary sedimentation (COD: 61.9 g/L; VSS: 38.7 g/L); and (4) mixed primary (70 %) and secondary (30 %) municipal sludge (COD: 81.2 g/L; VSS: 40.6 g/L). The effect of process parameters (temperature, reaction time, oxygen dosage) on WO performance was investigated. Depending on operating conditions, VSS and COD removal efficiency varied in the range 80–97 % and 43–71 %, respectively. A correlation between process efficiency and the initial VSS/TSS (total suspended solids) ratio was highlighted. Furthermore, a mathematical model of WO process for simulating VSS and COD profiles was developed.

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Acknowledgments

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement no. 265156.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics, University of Brescia, via Branze 43, I-25123, Brescia, Italy

    Giorgio Bertanza, Laura Menoni & Sabrina Zanaboni

  2. 3V GREEN EAGLE S.p.A, Piazza Libertà 10, 24121, Bergamo, Italy

    Raniero Galessi, Roberta Salvetti & Edoardo Slavik

Authors
  1. Giorgio Bertanza
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  2. Raniero Galessi
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  3. Laura Menoni
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  4. Roberta Salvetti
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  5. Edoardo Slavik
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  6. Sabrina Zanaboni
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Correspondence to Giorgio Bertanza.

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Responsible editor: Bingcai Pan

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Bertanza, G., Galessi, R., Menoni, L. et al. Wet oxidation of sewage sludge: full-scale experience and process modeling. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 7306–7316 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3144-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3144-9

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