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Influence of organic and inorganic flocculants on the formation of PCDD/Fs during sewage sludge incineration

  • 12th IHPA Forum and selected studies on POPs
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Abstract

Flocculants are widely used to improve the properties of sludge dewatering in industrial wastewater treatment. However, there have been no studies conducted on the influence of flocculants on the formation of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) during sewage sludge incineration. This paper selected three typical kinds of flocculants, including polyacrylamide (PAM), poly-ferric chloride (PFC), and polyaluminum chloride (PAC) flocculant, to study their influences on the formation of PCDD/Fs during sewage sludge incineration. The results indicated that PAM flocculant, which is an organic flocculant, inhibited the formation of PCDD/Fs in sewage sludge incineration, while inorganic flocculant, such as PFC and PAC flocculant, promoted the formation. The most probable explanation is that the amino content in the PAM flocculant acted as an inhibitor in the formation of PCDD/Fs, while the chlorine content, especially the metal catalyst in the PFC and PAC flocculants, increased the formation rate. The addition of flocculants nearly did not change the distribution of PCDD/F homologues. The PCDFs contributed the most toxic equivalent (TEQ) value, especially 2, 3, 4, 7, 8-PeCDF. Therefore, the use of inorganic flocculants in industrial wastewater treatment should be further assessed and possibly needs to be strictly regulated if the sludge is incinerated. From this aspect, a priority to the use of organic flocculants should be given.

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Acknowledgments

The research is supported by the National Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program, 2011CB201500) and the National High Technology Research and Development Key Program of China (863 Program, 2012AA062803 and 2012AA063305).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Xiaoqing Lin, Xiaodong Li, Shengyong Lu, Fei Wang, Tong Chen & Jianhua Yan

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  1. Xiaoqing Lin
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  2. Xiaodong Li
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Correspondence to Xiaodong Li.

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Lin, X., Li, X., Lu, S. et al. Influence of organic and inorganic flocculants on the formation of PCDD/Fs during sewage sludge incineration. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 14629–14636 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3294-9

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