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Pilot study of intense dewatering of urban sewage sludge

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Abstract

Urban sewage sludge treatment has become a severe problem due to its large quantities and enrichment with heavy metals, refractory organic contaminants and pathogenic bacteria. Accordingly, it is essential to develop an effective and low-cost intense dewatering technique to decrease sludge water content so that it can be easily treated by subsequent incineration, landfilling or composting. In this study, a new intense sludge dewatering technique using conditioner of coagulant and flocculant (polyacrylamide) mixture and the diaphragm filter press was developed and investigated systematically by measuring the water content, calorific value and coliform bacteria in the sludge and investigating the dewatering efficiency under different conditions. The results showed that the water content of the sludge was effectively reduced from 80 % to the minimum of 43.6 % by adding conditioners and subsequent dewatering using the diaphragm press. Moreover, the low calorific value of dewatered sludge increased significantly from that of the original sludge, and was conducive to subsequent incineration. The water content of the dewatered sludge cake decreased to less than 25 % after being kept in the open air for 9 days. Therefore, it is proposed that this technique be applied to large-scale engineering applications.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21106019), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-09-0288), Research Project of the Jiangsu Department of Science and Technology (BE2012738), Research Project of the Jiangsu Environmental Protection Department (201002), Research Project of the Nanjing Environmental Protection Agency (201006), Research Project of the Nanjing Housing and Urban–Rural Construction Agency (201006), and Research Project of the Nanjing Science and Technology Agency (201205045).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Sipailou 2, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Ying Huang

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Technology, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Sipailou 2, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Leilei Yu & Jian Wu

  3. Nanjing Environmental Monitoring Station, Hujubei 275, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Ruihui Wang

  4. Department of Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura C-1-3, Kyoto, Japan

    Masaki Takaoka

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  1. Ying Huang
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  2. Leilei Yu
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  3. Ruihui Wang
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  4. Jian Wu
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  5. Masaki Takaoka
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Correspondence to Ying Huang.

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Huang, Y., Yu, L., Wang, R. et al. Pilot study of intense dewatering of urban sewage sludge. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 19, 88–101 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-015-0387-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-015-0387-6

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