Abstract
Dewatered sludges from twenty-two sewage treatment facilities were characterized to develop the quality control indices in India. This study used fertilizer index (FI) and clean index (CI) as a tool for categorizing sludge utilization into different classes (A, B, C and limited use classes LU-1, LU-2, LU-3) by their fertilizing potential, toxicity level, pathogen presence, and vector attraction reduction criteria. The findings revealed that total P (as P2O5), total N, and K (as K2O) in the sludge samples ranged from 0.9 to 5.7%, 1.2 to 3.8%, and 0.1 to 1.5%, respectively. Moreover, all sludges belong to Class C and lower category due to the presence of toxic metals and pathogens. The helminth eggs were found in the range of 25–1450 Numbers/4gTS in sludge samples. The highest number of helminth eggs of 1450/4 g of TS was found in the fecal sludge. The specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) values in the sludge samples varied from 0.3 to 4.9, with a median value of 1.3 and an RSD of 86% is way too high. It indicates that the sludge samples need further treatment to be less attractive as a food source for vectors and rodents. However, sludge samples have fertilizing potential and FI values ranges from 4.1 to 4.9, and CI value ranges from 2.5 to 5.0. It indicates that compost is best in quality and has high-fertilizer potential and low heavy-metal content, which is suitable for high-value crops such as organic farming. Further sludge treatment using typical composting, aerobic or anaerobic digestion, and solar or thermal drying could bring the sludges into the Class A and B categories.
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Funding
The authors are thankful to the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Central Pollution Control Board, CPCB [Grant No. PJ-14012 (11)/1/2021-WQM-II-HO-CPCB], the Department of Biotechnology (Grant No. BT/RLF/Re-entry/12/2016), and the Department of Science and Technology (Grant No. DST/IMRCD/India-EU/Water Call 2/ SARASWATI 2.0/2018/C), Government of India, for financial support for this research.
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Ganesh Sude: conceptualization, visualization, methodology, writing – original draft, data curation. Ankur Rajpal: conceptualization, visualization, methodology, writing – original draft, data curation. Vinay Kumar Tyagi: conceptualization, visualization, resources, methodology, writing – review and editing, critical suggestions, supervision. Kapil Sharma: writing – original draft, data curation. Pravin Kumar Mutiyar: writing – review and editing, critical suggestions. B.K. Panday: writing – review and editing, critical suggestions. R.P. Pandey: writing – review and editing, critical suggestions. Absar Ahmad Kazmi: conceptualization, visualization, resources, writing – review and editing, critical suggestions, supervision.
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Sude, G., Rajpal, A., Tyagi, V.K. et al. Evaluation of sludge quality in Indian sewage treatment plants to develop quality control indices. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 17578–17590 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25320-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25320-1