Abstract
Water treatment plants are responsible for ensuring the quality and distribution of drinking water. The most commonly employed treatment method is the conventional type, which generates a significant amount of waste known as sludge. As chemicals are used throughout the treatment to remove impurities from the water, the sludge may contain toxic substances in its composition and, therefore, must receive an environmentally appropriate final disposition. This study aimed to assess, through respirometry, the biodegradability of water treatment sludge when applied to soil, associated or not with biostimulating material (sewage sludge), focusing on its use in agriculture. Before and after biodegradation, physical–chemical, microbiological, and phytotoxic potential characterization of the different treatments containing soil, water treatment sludge, and sewage sludge was also carried out. The chemical/biochemical oxygen demand ratio indicated the presence of less biodegradable compounds in the water treatment sludge compared to sewage sludge. The respirometry test revealed that the samples containing sewage sludge presented the highest CO2 production and biodegradation efficiency. The sample soil, sewage sludge, and 5% water treatment sludge showed the best result for these parameters. None of the treatments performed was considered phytotoxic, exhibiting germination percentages superior to 70%. The sample containing the highest concentration of water treatment sludge associated with sewage sludge presented a statistically significant increase in root growth after biodegradation. Thus, the addition of sewage sludge led to an increase in the agronomic potential of the mixture. Therefore, water treatment sludge as a soil conditioner seems to be a promising alternative for its recycling.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are included in the supplementary information files of this published article. Additional data generated during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Autonomous Department of Water and Sewage of Rio Claro, São Paulo/Brazil (DAAE), and the company BRK Ambiental for providing the sludges used in this study. This work was supported by the National Post-Doctoral Program of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel—PNPD/CAPES (process number 88882.317851/2019-01) and the Foundation for the Development of UNESP – FUNDUNESP (process number 2786/2018).
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DECM and DFA contributed to the study conception, design, funding acquisition and supervision. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by NMF, DANOL and DECM. MBT, LNMY and AAM performed the analysis and quantification of metals. The first draft of the manuscript was written by NMF and DECM. All authors commented on previous versions and approved the final manuscript.
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Franco, N.M., Leite, D.A.N.O., Yabuki, L.N.M. et al. Biodegradability of water treatment sludge influenced by sewage sludge, focusing its use in agriculture as soil conditioner. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 9623–9638 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03792-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03792-3