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Influence of persulfate on transformation of phosphorus and heavy metals for improving sewage sludge dewaterability by hydrothermal treatment

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Abstract

Activated persulfate oxidation has been proven to be an efficient advanced sludge treatment technique to improve sludge dewaterability. This study investigates the influence of persulfate on the transformation of phosphorus (P) and heavy metals (HMs) during the hydrothermal treatment of sewage sludge. The hydrothermal temperature, time, and persulfate concentration are optimized by a Box-Behnken design to obtain the best sludge dewaterability, which is expressed by capillary suction time (CST). The highest CST reduction efficiency is 90.5% at the optimal hydrothermal temperature, time, and concentration of persulfate, which are 145 °C, 2 h, and 150 mg/g dry sludge (DS), respectively. The distribution and transformation of P and HMs with different persulfate concentrations (100–200 mg/g DS) during the hydrothermal process are investigated. Results show that more than 90% of the P and HMs in the sludge are retained in sludge cakes after the hydrothermal treatment. The addition of SPS can make the P in the sludge cakes transform into more stable P species according to the extraction capacity of sequential extracts. It can be found from the ecological risk indexes of the HMs that the addition of SPS during the hydrothermal treatment of sludge can reduce the environmental risk of HMs. This study provides insights into the P and HM distribution and transformation during hydrothermal treatment with persulfate, providing a reference for sludge recovery strategies.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51908233). National Natural Science Foundation of China,51908233,Qiao Xiong

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Qiao Xiong, Xiang Wu, Xu Wu & Hang Lv

  2. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Hubei Normal University, 11 Cihu Road, Huangshi, 435002, China

    Qiao Xiong

  3. Design and Research Institute, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Jing Xia

  4. School of Resource and Environment Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Haobo Hou

Authors
  1. Qiao Xiong
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  2. Jing Xia
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  3. Xiang Wu
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  4. Xu Wu
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  5. Haobo Hou
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  6. Hang Lv
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Contributions

Qiao Xiong: Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing — original draft. Jing Xia: Investigation. Xiang Wu: Investigation. Xu Wu: Software, Validation. Haobo Hou: Supervision. Hang Lv: Writing — review and editing.

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Correspondence to Hang Lv.

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Xiong, Q., Xia, J., Wu, X. et al. Influence of persulfate on transformation of phosphorus and heavy metals for improving sewage sludge dewaterability by hydrothermal treatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 33252–33262 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18624-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18624-1

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