Predicting the apparent viscosity and yield stress of digested and secondary sludge mixtures

Nicky Eshtiaghi; Flora Markis; Dwen Zain; Kiet Hung Mai

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.03.002

Predicting the apparent viscosity and yield stress of digested and secondary sludge mixtures

Water Res. 2016 May 15:95:159-64. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.03.002. Epub 2016 Mar 3.

Authors

Nicky Eshtiaghi¹, Flora Markis², Dwen Zain², Kiet Hung Mai²

Affiliations

¹ Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: nicky.eshtiaghi@rmit.edu.au.
² Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia.

PMID: 26994336
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.03.002

Abstract

The legal banning of conventional sludge disposal methods such as landfill has led to a global movement towards achieving a sustainable sludge management strategy. Reusing sludge for energy production (biogas production) through the anaerobic digestion of sludge can provide a sustainable solution. However, for the optimum performance of digesters with minimal use of energy input, operating conditions must be regulated in accordance with the rheological characteristics of the sludge. If it is assumed that only secondary sludge enters the anaerobic digesters, an impact of variations to the solids concentration and volume fraction of each sludge type must be investigated to understand how the apparent viscosity and yield stress of the secondary and digested sludge mixture inside the digesters changes. In this study, five different total solids concentration of secondary and digested sludge were mixed at different digested sludge volume fractions ranging from 0 to 1. It was found that if secondary sludge was mixed with digested sludge at the same total solids concentration, the apparent viscosity and the yield stress of the mixture increased exponentially by increasing the volume fraction of digested sludge. However, if secondary sludge was added to digested sludge with a different solids concentration, the apparent viscosity and yield stress of the resulting mixed sludge was controlled by the concentrated sludge regardless of its type. Semi - empirical correlations were proposed to predict the apparent viscosity and yield stress of the mixed digested and secondary sludge. A master curve was also developed to predict the flow behaviour of sludge mixtures regardless of the total solid concentration and volume fraction of each sludge type within the studied solids concentration range of 1.4 and 7%TS. This model can be used for digesters optimization and design by predicting the rheology of sludge mixture inside digester.

Keywords: Apparent viscosity; Digested sludge; Mixtures; Secondary sludge; Surface charges; Yield stress.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Bioreactors
Models, Theoretical
Rheology
Sewage*
Viscosity*
Waste Disposal, Fluid

Substances

Sewage