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Conversion of waste-activated sludge from wastewater treatment plants to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural by microwave hydrothermal treatment

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Abstract

Waste-activated sludge (WAS) is a common renewable biomass resource rich in organics. In this study, microwave hydrothermal treatment (MHT) was used to produce 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from WAS. The key MHT process parameters of holding temperature, holding time, and pH value were optimized by a Box–Behnken design and response surface methodology. The highest HMF yield (1.58%) was obtained with a holding temperature of 225 °C, holding time of 5 min, and pH value of 1.7. Economic evaluation showed that a profit of $4640 can be made from one ton of WAS by HMF production. This economical and feasible waste recycling method can produce HMF from WAS with considerable output under suitable MHT conditions and provides a new concept for WAS valorization.

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Funding

The work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LGF20E080004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Recycling, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Instrumental Analysis Center, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Liqun Xiao, Yanjun Meng, Yanhong Wang, Lijiao Fan, Dongsheng Shen & Yuyang Long

  2. Zhejiang Hongyi Environmental Protection Technology Co. LTD, Hangzhou, 310000, China

    Haihong Jin

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  1. Liqun Xiao
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Contributions

Liqun Xiao: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Visualization. Yanjun Meng: Writing—review and editing, Investigation. Haihong Jin: Methodology, Resources. Yanhong Wang: Writing—review & editing, Investigation. Lijiao Fan: Writing—review and editing, Investigation. Dongsheng Shen: Methodology, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Yuyang Long: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Resources, Writing—review and editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Yuyang Long.

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Xiao, L., Meng, Y., Jin, H. et al. Conversion of waste-activated sludge from wastewater treatment plants to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural by microwave hydrothermal treatment. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 10389–10397 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03076-x

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