Abstract
Sludge dewatering is an important process for determining the operation cost of sludge disposal. Hence, improving the dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge containing high water content is of paramount significance. For this challenge, we developed a novel process in which fibrous materials initially collected from a primary sedimentation tank, namely recovered fibers, were used as an auxiliary agent to improve the dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using the developed process to improve sludge dewaterability. Three fibrous materials individually recovered from the respective primary sedimentation tanks in different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were used to investigate sludge dewaterability, organic C compositions, and calorific values. The recovered fibers showed comparable compositions irrespective of the WWTP. Six different WWTP sludge samples after anaerobic digestion were continuously supplied to three different dewatering devices, i.e., screw press, centrifuge, and belt press machines, with or without the supply of recovered fibers. Irrespective of the type of a dewatering device, the supply of recovered fibers mixed with the tested sludge samples at a feed ratio of 0.18–0.20 g-fibers/g-sludge (dry weight) reduced the amount of polymer flocculant by 13–50%, thereby displaying the superiority of the addition of recovered fibers. Furthermore, at fiber feed ratios of 0.20 g-fibers/g-sludge and 0.40 g-fibers/g-sludge when the rates of sludge supply and polymer flocculant were kept constant, the corresponding water contents in the dewatered sludge cakes decreased to about 74–76% and 69–72%, respectively. The consistent results regardless of the dewatering device or sludge sample showed the significance of the addition of recovered fibers for improvement in sludge dewaterability.
Graphical abstract
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
APHA, AWWA, WEF (1992) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 18th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC
Batstone DJ, Jensen PD, Ge H (2011) Biochemical treatment of biosolids-emerging technologies: pre-treatment methods such as biological processes can improve performance economically. Water 38:90–93
Feng Y, Zhang Y, Quan X, Chen S (2014) Enhanced anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge digestion by the addition of zero valent iron. Water Res 52:242–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2013.10.072
Ghasimi DSM, de Kreuk M, Maeng SK, Zandvoort MH, van Lier JB (2016) High-rate thermophilic bio-methanation of the fine sieved fraction from Dutch municipal raw sewage: cost-effective potentials for on-site energy recovery. Appl Energy 165:569–582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.12.065
Glendinning S, Lamont-Black J, Jones CJ (2007) Treatment of sewage sludge using electrokinetic geosynthetics. J Hazard Mater 139:491–499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2006.02.046
Houdková L, Boráň J, Ucekaj V, Elsäßer T, Stehlík P (2008) Thermal processing of sewage sludge-II. Appl Therm Eng 28:2083–2088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2008.04.005
Jaafarzadeh N, Hashempour Y, Takdastan A, Moghadam MA, Goodarzi G (2016) Evaluation of bagasse pith as a skeleton builder for improvement of sludge dewatering. Environ Eng Manag J 15:725–732
Japan Industrial Standard (1997) JIS M 8819
Japan Industrial Standard (1999) JIS Z 7302-6
Japan Industrial Standard (2002) JIS Z 7302-7
Japan Industrial Standard (2003) JIS M 8814
Japan Industrial Standard (2004) JIS M 8812
Japan Sewage Works Agency (2017) Kikai setsubi hyojyun shiyosyo. Sewerage Business Management Centre (in Japanese)
Japan Sewage Works Association (2018) Gesuido tokei 2015 CD-ROM (in Japanese)
Kelessidis A, Stasinakis AS (2012) Comparative study of the methods used for treatment and final disposal of sewage sludge in European countries. Waste Manag 32:1186–1195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2012.01.012
Komatsu K, Yasui H, Goel R, Li Y, Noike T (2011) Novel anaerobic digestion process with sludge ozonation for economically feasible power production from biogas. Water Sci Technol 63:1467–1475. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2011.382
Kuno K, Suzuki K, Inoue T, Miyauchi C (2011) Practical application of the inside double coagulation type centrifugal dehydrator. J Jpn Sew Works Assoc 48:91–98 (in Japanese)
LeBlanc RJ, Matthews P, Richard RP (2008) Global atlas of excreta, wastewater sludge, and biosolids management: moving forward the sustainable and welcome uses of a global resource. United Nations Human Settlements Programme, pp 46–48, 207–209, 547–548
North East Biosolids and Residuals Association (NEBRA) (2007) A national biosolids regulation, quality, end use & disposal survey, final report. North East Biosolids and Residuals Association, pp 11–15
Qi Y, Thapa KB, Hoadley AFA (2011) Application of filtration aids for improving sludge dewatering properties—a review. Chem Eng J 171:373–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2011.04.060
Ruiken CJ, Breuer G, Klaversma E, Santiago T, van Loosdrecht MCM (2013) Sieving wastewater-cellulose recovery, economic and energy evaluation. Water Res 47:43–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2012.08.023
Spinosa L, Vesilind PA (2001) Sludge into biosolids processing, disposal, utilization. IWA Publishing, London. https://doi.org/10.2166/9781780402215
Thapa KB, Qi Y, Clayton SA, Hoadley AFA (2009) Lignite aided dewatering of digested sewage sludge. Water Res 43:623–634
Tochioka E, Yamashita M, Usui J, Hosokawa H, Terada A, Hosomi M (2017) Improvement of dewatering efficiency of anaerobic digested sludge by use of fibrous materials in sewage. Kagaku Kogaku Ronbunshu 43:238–244. https://doi.org/10.1252/kakoronbunshu.43.238 (in Japanese)
Tuan PA, Mika S, Pirjo I (2012) Sewage sludge electro-dewatering treatment—a review. Dry Technol 30:691–706. https://doi.org/10.1080/07373937.2012.654874
Tyagi VK, Lo SL (2013) Sludge: a waste or renewable source for energy and resources recovery? Renew Sustain Energy Rev 25:708–728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.05.029
Usui J, Hosokawa H (2016) Gesui odei rikatsuyo shisutemu ni tsuite. Gesuido Kenkyu Happyoukai Kouensyu 53:1076–1078 (in Japanese)
Wang N, Zhang W, Cao B, Yang P, Cui F, Wang D (2018) Advanced anaerobic digested sludge dewaterability enhancement using sludge based activated carbon (SBAC) in combination with organic polymers. Chem Eng J 350:660–672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2018.06.026
Wang W, Luo Y, Qiao W (2010) Possible solutions for sludge dewatering in China. Front Environ Sci Eng China 4:102–107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-010-0001-z
Wei H, Gao B, Ren J, Li A, Yang H (2018) Coagulation/flocculation in dewatering of sludge: a review. Water Res 143:608–631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2018.07.029
Yang G, Zhang G, Wang H (2015) Current state of sludge production, management, treatment and disposal in China. Water Res 78:60–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.04.002
Zou Y, Hoekstra PM (2017) US Patent No. 9,776,900 B2 (Patent on October 3, 2017)
URL
International Water Services Flushability Group: http://iwsfg.org/. Accessed on 8 April 2019
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the staffs of Ishigaki Co., Ltd. and Japan Sewage Works Agency for valuable comments. The authors also thank the staffs of the wastewater treatment plants for providing sewage sludge samples.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tochioka, E., Yamashita, M., Usui, J. et al. Enhancing the dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge using fibrous materials recovered from primary sludge: demonstration from a field study. Clean Techn Environ Policy 21, 1131–1141 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-019-01698-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-019-01698-w