Enhanced Dewatering of Activated Sludge by Skeleton-Assisted Flocculation Process

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 27;19(11):6540. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116540.

Abstract

Sludge dewatering is the fundamental process of sludge treatment. Environmentally friendly and efficient sludge conditioning methods are the premises of sludge to achieve dehydration reduction and resource utilization. In response to sewage plant sludge dehydration, fly ash (FA), polymerized aluminum chloride (PAC), and polymer sulfate (PFS) were studied separately to determine their sludge dehydration performance, and the effects of these three conditioner composite regulations on sludge dehydration properties were studied. Compared to the sludge treated only with conditioner, the average particle size of floc increased and the organic matter content in the filtrate decreased. The sludge dewatering efficiency after the conditioning effect is better than that after conditioning a single conditioner. After PFS conditioning with fly ash, the water content and specific resistance (SRF) of the sludge cake can be reduced to 76.39% and 6.63 × 1010 m/kg, respectively. The moisture content and specific resistance (SRF) of the sludge cake can be reduced to 76.10% and 6.91 × 1010 m/kg, respectively. The pH of the sludge and filtrate changed slightly after PAC conditioning with fly ash coupling. These results indicate that fly-ash coupled with PAC and fly-ash coupled with PFS are expected to become a novel and effective environmental protection combined conditioning method for sludge dewatering.

Keywords: conditioner; flocculation; fly ash; sludge conditioning; sludge dewatering.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Coal Ash*
  • Dehydration
  • Filtration
  • Flocculation
  • Humans
  • Sewage* / chemistry
  • Skeleton
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods
  • Water

Substances

  • Coal Ash
  • Sewage
  • Water

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province in China (No. BK20201362), and the 2018 Six Talent Peaks Project of Jiangsu Province (JNHB-038), University-enterprise joint development project (202112346).